496 



BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



[5. Zenaida. Bill smaller, more compressed. No white patch on the wing; scapulars 

 with black spots. Above olivaceous, beneath vinaceous. Tail usually of twelve 

 feathers, rounded.] 



6. Zenaidura. Similar to Zenaida, but tail of fourteen feathers, much more length- 

 ened, and graduated. 



6. ChamcEpeliece. Size very small. "Wings rounded, the primaries scarcely longer 

 than the tertials. Tarsus seutellate anteriorly. No blackish spot beneath the 

 auriculars; no metallic gloss on sides of the neck. 



7. Scardafella. Tail of twelve feathers, lengthened (much longer than wings), doubly 

 rounded, the lateral feathers much shorter; the three outer pairs with white ter- 

 minally.] 



[8. Columbigallina. Tail of twelve feathers, short (much less than wings), simply 

 rcmnded, the lateral feathers only slightly shorter; outer feathers without white 

 terminally, or with only a slight edging. Wing-coverts with obliaue black spots, 

 and body without transverse blackish bars.] 



c. Geotrygonece. Size moderate (generally a little larger than Zenaida); form robust, 

 or quail-like. Legs very stout; tarsi decidedly longer than the middle toe, 

 variously scaled anteriorly. Wings short, very broad, and much rounded, but 

 the primaries decidedly longer than the secondaries. 



[9. Starnoenas. Legs very stout; tarsi covered anteriorly with hexagonal scales; 



crown blue ; a black gular patch, bordered below by white.] 



[10. Geotrygon. Legs moderate; tarsi covered anteriorly with transverse scutellae; 

 crown never blue, and throat without black patch or white markings.] 



GENUS ECTOPISTES SWAINSON. 



Ectopistes SWAINSON, Zool. Jour, iii, 1827,302. Type, Columba migratoria LINN. 



"GEN. CHAR. Head very small. Bill short, black; culmen one third the rest of the 

 head ; feathers of the chin running very far forward ; gonys very short. Tarsi very short, 

 half covered anteriorly by feathers. Inner lateral claw much larger than outer, reaching 

 to the base of the middle one. Tail very long and excessively cuneate; about as long as 

 the wings. First primary longest. Black spots on scapulars ; a black and a rufous spot 

 on inner webs of tail-feathers. 



"This genus is readily distinguished from the other Columbine, 

 by the excessively lengthened and acute middle feathers. It for- 

 merly included the Columba Caroline us is, but this, with more pro- 

 priety, has been erected into a different genus (Zenaidura), and will 

 be found in the next section." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The E. migratorius, or common Wild Pigeon or Passenger Pigeon 

 of eastern North America, is slaty blue above, the wings and scap- 

 ulars more brownish and spotted with black ; the inner webs ol 

 the tail-feathers have each a rufous and a black spot. The male 

 has the whole head bluish plumbeous, the fore-neck and jugulum 

 rich . cinnamon, passing into vinaceous on the breast, this gradually 



