_Columba passerina_, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 285.—LATHAM, Ind.
Orn. II, 1790, 611.—WILSON, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 15, pl. xlvi.—WAGLER,
Syst. Av. _Columba_, No. 88.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 471; V, 1839,
558, pl. clxxxii.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 19, pl. cclxxxiii.—SUND.
Ofv. 1869, 586 (_St. Bartholemy._) _Columba_ (_Goura_) _passerina_,
BONAP. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 181.—NUTTALL, Man. I, 1832, 635.
_Chæmepelia passerina_, SWAINSON, Zool. Jour. III, 1827, 358.
_Chamæpelia passerina_, BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Conspectus, II, 1854,
77.—GOSSE, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 311.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858,
606.—SCL. P. Z. S. 1859, 391 (Oaxaca); 1857, 205 (Xalapa); Ibis,
I, 223 (Guatemala); P. Z. S. 1864, 178 (City of Mexico).—CAB. J.
IV, III (Cuba).—BRYANT, B. Pr. 1866 (Porto Rico).—LAWR. Ann. Lyc.
IX, 134 (Costa Rica), 207 (Yucatan).—MARCH, P. A. N. S. 1863, 302
(Jamaica).—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 516. _Pyrgitænas passerinus_,
REICHENB. Handb. Taub. 13 (1861 ?), tab. 266, f. 2875–78; tab.
256, f. 1419, 1420. _Chamæpelia granatina_, BONAP. Consp. II, 77
(Bogota). _Chamæpelia albivitta_, BONAP. Consp. II, 77 (Carthagena).
_Chamæpelia_ var. _pallescens_, BAIRD, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1859 (Cape
St. Lucas).—COOPER Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 517.
SP. CHAR. Back, rump, exposed surface of tertials, and tail above,
uniform grayish-olive; neck above and occiput tinged with bluish;
forehead, sides of head, and neck, under parts generally, and lesser
upper wing-coverts, light purplish-red, tinged with dusky towards
the tail. Feathers of the head, neck, and fore-breast, margined with
a darker shade of the ground-color; the forehead and chin, only,
nearly uniform. Feathers of the breast dusky-brown in the centre, this
most conspicuous on the jugulum. Under wing-coverts, axillars, and
quills, brownish-orange; the latter margined externally and tipped
with dusky-brown, the tertials almost entirely of this color. Middle
tail-feathers like the back; the others mostly black, the outer one
edged towards the tip with white. The exposed surface of the wing
variously marked with blotches exhibiting black, steel-blue, and violet.
Bill and feet yellow; the former tipped with brown. _Female_ with little
or none of the purplish-red. _Young_ duller than the adult female, the
feathers of upper parts with a narrow terminal bar of white. Length,
6.30; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.80.
[Illustration: _Chamæpelia passerina._]
HAB. South Atlantic and Gulf coasts; very rarely as far north as
Washington. Southern and Lower California; whole of Middle America, to
New Granada and Venezuela; West Indies.
Specimens vary considerably in the depth of the vinaceous tints, but the
variation is nearly as much with the individual as with the locality.
As a rule, Florida and West India skins are most deeply colored, those
from Mexico (particularly from Cape St. Lucas and Orizaba) being much
paler in all the tints (var. _pallescens_, Baird); but specimens from
Guatemala and Costa Rica are undistinguishable from the average of the
Florida series. Specimens from New Granada (labelled _C. granatina_,
Bonap.), Venezuela (labelled _C. albivitta_), and the Amazons, are more
like Cape St. Lucas specimens, differing from them only in slightly
smaller size, the colors being the same in the minutest particulars,
except that the crissum is perhaps more whitish, the dusky centres of
the feathers being more concealed. These generalizations are based on
fifty-six specimens in the Smithsonian Museum.
HABITS. According to Mr. Audubon, this Dove is found from the lower
parts of Louisiana to Cape Hatteras, following the coast quite round
Florida, but is seen very seldom to any distance in the interior. He met
with none in the State of Mississippi. They were more abundant among
the sea-islands of Georgia and the middle portions of the coast of East
Florida than anywhere else.
This bird has also been taken at Monterey, California, by W. Hutton, and
a single accidental specimen has been obtained near Washington, D. C.
Specimens were obtained near Matamoras, in Tamaulipas, by Dr.
Berlandier, and subsequently by Lieutenant Couch, who generally found
them in the forests or open fields at a distance from dwellings. They
were observed to fly low, and only for short distances, and to spend
most of their time on the ground.
In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, the Ground Dove sometimes perches,
and always roosts, on low trees; but is otherwise generally found in
pairs, feeding on the ground on small grain and seeds. Several pairs
may be seen feeding together, but they do not associate. It is said
to be very tame, and to be found about homesteads and in streets and
roads. It also breeds in low trees, the cashew and the dogwood seeming
to be preferred. It is very rarely kept as a cage-bird, as its note
is a plaintive mournful coo, and there is a Creole superstition that
misfortune will happen to any one so treating it. The nest is slightly
made of twigs, lined with grass, and built in a fork or hollow. The eggs
are two, of a rounded oval, white, .87 of an inch by .69.
According to Mr. Salvin, this Dove is one of the most familiar birds of
the central region of Guatemala, where it is the only small Ground Dove
found. In the coast region its place was supplied by at least two other
species. It is abundant at Dueñas, residing all the year, and breeding
in the cochineal plantations, where it deposits its eggs, two in number,
on the ground under the rows of “nopal.” It is called Tortolita by the
inhabitants. He found its nests both on the ground and elevated a few
feet above it.
Mr. Dresser found these birds common near Matamoras, and generally
noticed them on the road between Matamoras and Brownsville, as well as
on a sand-plain close to Fort Brown, on the Texan side of the river. In
the interior of Texas he did not meet with any, except once, in April,
on the Medina near San Antonio.
Mr. Audubon describes the flight of this Dove as low, easy, and
accompanied by a whistling sound, produced by the action of the wings
when the bird is surprised and forced to fly. it is less protracted
than that of most other species, and seldom extends more than a hundred
yards at a time. It seems much attached to its chosen locality, and
almost immediately returns to it after having been driven away. While
it alights on trees and moves with ease among the branches, and mostly
nests in low trees or bushes, the ground is its usual place of resort,
where it runs with facility, and in moving always keeps its tail
considerably elevated. It appeared to be fond of alighting on fences,
where it can be heard cooing for half an hour at a time.
These Pigeons are met with in groups of four or five, and seldom more
than ten or twelve are seen together. They appear to prefer the thinly
grassed sandy portions of cotton-fields, pea-patches, and similar
places. In East Florida they may even be seen in the villages, resorting
to the orange-groves and breeding in them. At St. Augustine they are
often found within the inner court of the old Spanish fort, rising
almost perpendicularly in order to escape above the parapets. They are
easily caught, and readily become domesticated. A pair taken when their
young were quite small, and placed in an aviary, continued to nourish
them until full-grown, and afterwards raised a second brood from the
same nest. They were fed on rice and other small grain.
The nest of this species is described as compact, and as large for the
size of the bird. It is composed of dry twigs externally, and within is
made of dry grasses disposed in a circular form. This is usually built
in hedges or low bushes, and among the branches of orange-trees. The
eggs are two, pure white, and with one end usually much more obtuse
than the other. They are two in number, but, as Mr. Audubon states,
occasionally the nest contains three. Two broods are raised in a season.
In the vicinity of Charleston these birds were observed to remain
all the year, though the greater proportion retired south or to the
sea-islands.
In the Florida Keys Mr. Audubon met with them among the islands resorted
to by the Zenaida Doves, and also on Sandy Island, near Cape Sable. In
the latter place they were so gentle that he approached to within two
yards of them. Their nest was on the top of a cactus, not more than two
feet from the ground.
Their food, in a wild state, consists of grass-seeds and various small
berries, with which they swallow a large proportion of gravel to assist
digestion. They are extremely fond of dusting themselves in the sand,
lying down in it in the manner of various gallinaceous birds.
The eggs of this species are of a uniform bright white color, are
slightly more pointed at one end than at the other, and measure .85 of
an inch in length by .63 in breadth.
This species was found in abundance at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. Xantus.
They were nesting from April 15 until August 29, and evidently had two
or more broods in a season. Their nests were usually placed in low
cactuses, near the ground, or in small shrubs. Their nests, eggs, and
general habits, so far as we can gather them from the meagre notes of
Mr. Xantus, are in no wise different from those of the more eastern
birds.
[Plate: PLATE LVIII.
1. Oreopeleia martinica. ♂ Jamaica.
2. Zenaidura carolinensis. ♂ N. C., 55569.
3. Zenaida amabilis. ♂ Jamaica, 24406.
4. Melopeleia leucoptera. ♂ Mazatlan, 34009.
5. Starnoæna cyanocephalus. ♂ Jamaica, ? 12541.
6. Chamæpelia passerina. ♂ 28281.
7. Scardafella inca. ♂ Texas, 45465.]