_Chamæpelia_, SWAINSON, Zool. Jour. III, 1827, 361. (Type, _Columba
passerina_, L.)
GEN. CHAR. Size very small. Bill slender, elongated. Culmen more than
half the head measured from frontal feathers. Legs stout. Tarsi longer
than lateral toes; equal to the middle without its claw; covered
anteriorly by a single series of scutellæ. Wings broad; the tertials
excessively lengthened, nearly as long as the primaries, quite equal to
the first primary. Tail nearly as long as the wings; rounded laterally.
[Illustration: =12535= ♂ ½ ½
_Chamæpelia passerina._]
This group embraces the most diminutive Doves known to naturalists.
A single species is found abundantly in the southern United States;
another is found in northern South America. They may be distinguished as
follows:—
=C. passerina.= Feathers of jugulum with a dusky central spot; occiput
and nape squamated with dusky. _Hab._ Southern Atlantic and Gulf
States, whole of Mexico (including Lower California), Central America,
New Granada, Venezuela, and West Indies.
=C. griseola.=[110] No central dusky spot to feathers of jugulum,
and no scale-like markings on occiput or nape. _Hab._ Brazil and New
Granada.
Chamæpelia passerina, SWAINSON.