_Oreopeleia_, REICHENBACH, Handbuch der speciellen Ornithol. I, i,
1851, page xxiv. (Type, _Columba martinica_, L.)
GEN. CHAR. Bill lengthened, slender; culmen half the rest of the head
from the frontal feathers. Feet large, stout; tarsi longer than the
middle toe and claw, covered anteriorly by transverse scutellæ. Inner
lateral claw longer than outer; reaching beyond the base of the middle
one, the outer falling short of it. Hind toe and claw more than half the
middle. Quills and tail-feathers very broad; the wings rounded; second
and third quills longest, the first intermediate between the fourth and
fifth. Tail suborbicular, the shafts convex outwardly; the feathers
rounded, and a little graduated.
Of this genus, which is peculiar to America, two well-marked species,
may be distinguished.
=O. martinica.= Above chestnut-rufous, the crown and nape with
purplish-green, the lower part of nape with golden-green, the
back with violet, the other upper parts with bright purplish-red
reflections; beneath pinkish-white, more purplish on the jugulum. A
distinctly marked light stripe on the cheek, bordered below by one of
purplish-red. Length, 10.70; wing, 6.20; tail, 5.75. _Hab._ Key West,
Florida (?) Cuba, and Martinique.
=O. montana.=[111] Above deep orange-rufous, without bright
reflections, but with an opaque gloss of reddish-purple on the back
and nape. Beneath ochraceous, inclining to vinaceous on the jugulum.
Cheeks without distinct whitish bar bordered below by reddish. Wing,
5.70. _Hab._ Atlantic region of Middle America from Xalapa to Brazil;
West Indies.
Oreopeleia martinica, REICH.