_Zenaidura_, BONAP. Consp. Avium, II, 1854, 84. (Type, _Columba
carolinensis_, L.)
_Perissura_, CAB. Jour. für Orn. IV, 1856, 111. (Same type.)
GEN. CHAR. Bill weak, black; culmen from frontal feathers about one
third the head above. Tarsus not quite as long as middle toe and claw,
but considerably longer than the lateral ones; covered anteriorly by a
single series of scutellæ. Inner lateral claw considerably longer than
outer, and reaching to the base of middle. Wings pointed; second quill
longest; first and third nearly equal. Tail very long, equal to the
wings; excessively graduated and cuneate, of fourteen feathers.
The fourteen tail-feathers render this genus very conspicuous among the
North American doves. It was formerly placed with the Passenger-Pigeon
in _Ectopistes_, but has nothing in common with it but the lengthened
tail, as it belongs to a different subfamily. At present three species
are known, two of them recently described. Unless _Z. yucatanensis_
proves to be a hybrid between _Zenaida amabilis_ and _Zenaidura
carolinensis_, it may be expedient to merge _Zenaida_ and _Zenaidura_
into one, since, if _yucatanensis_ prove to be a permanent form, the
additional pair of tail-feathers is all that is left to characterize
_Zenaidura_; and when we consider that the wedge-tailed _Haliætus
pelagicus_ has fourteen tail-feathers, while the round-tailed species
have only twelve, it seems reasonable to consider the difference as
merely specific in this case also.
[Illustration: =1180= ♂ ⅔ ⅔
_Zenaidura carolinensis._]
=A.= Secondaries broadly tipped with white.
=Z. yucatanensis.=[107] Beneath entirely deep purplish-vinaceous.
Wing, 6.00; tail, 4.90; culmen, .58; tarsus, .85; middle toe, .90.
_Hab._ Yucatan.
=B.= Secondaries not tipped with white.
=Z. carolinensis.= Beneath light purplish-vinaceous anteriorly;
crissum nearly white. Wing, 5.90; tail, 6.00; culmen, .50; tarsus,
.86; middle toe, .82. _Hab._ Whole of North America, south to
Panama; West Indies.
=Z. graysoni.=[108] Beneath entirely uniform deep reddish-cinnamon.
Wing, 6.00; tail, 5.15; culmen, .84; tarsus, 1.08; middle toe, .97.
_Hab._ Socorro Island, western coast of Mexico.
Zenaidura carolinensis, BONAP.