626 PIGEON TRIBE. 



This beautiful little species inhabits the Keys of Flor- 

 ida with the preceding, but is rare. It is also known to 

 exist in the neighbouring island of Cuba. They keep 

 much on the ground, where they dust themselves and 

 swallow gravel to assist digestion. When rising on the 

 wing, the same whistling noise is heard from the motion 

 of their wings as in the case of the common Carolina 

 Turtle Dove. 



The Zenaida Dove measures only 10 inches. Bill black. Iris dark 

 brown. Feet red. Beneath the ears a small bright and deep viola- 

 ceous spot ; above this also a smaller one. Anterior cervical region, 

 v/ith metallic golden-violet reflections, slightly passing into greenish. 

 Scapulars spotted with black. Quills dusky ; the secondaries broad- 

 ly terminated with white, 2d primary longest. Tail nearly even, of 

 12 feathers. 



ft With the tail long, and cuneiform. 



CAROLINA PIGEON, or TURTLE DOVE. 



(Columba carolinensis, L. Wilson, v. p. 91. pi. 43. fig. 1. Phil. 



Museum, No.) 

 Sp. Charact. — Forehead and breast vinaceous ; a black spot under 



each ear ; tail of 14 feathers, with 4 of the lateral ones black near 



the extremity, and white at the tip. 



This almost fiimiliar Pigeon, in the course of the spring 

 leisurely migrates through the interior as far as to Cana- 

 da, though, in the Eastern States, they are very rarely 

 met with to the north of Connecticut. Many appear 

 sedentary in the warmer states, where they breed as 

 far south as Louisiana. They are also said to inhabit 

 the Antilles. In the warmer parts of the Union they 

 commence laying early in April ; and in South Carolina 

 I heard their plaintive coo on the 29th of January ; but 

 at the extremity of their range they scarcely begin to 

 breed before the middle of May. They lay, as usual, 2 

 eggs, of a pure white, and make their nest in the hor- 

 izontal branches of trees. It is formed of a mere layer 



