394 BULLETIlSr 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Leptopelia o Heine, in Heine and Reichenow, Nom. Mus. Hein. Orn., 1890, 283. 



(Substitute for Talpacotia Bonaparte, rejected on grounds of purism.) 

 Columbina (not of Spix, 1825) Gray, List Gen. Birds, 1840, 58. 



Very small terrestrial pigeons (length about 136-180 mm.) with 

 outermost primary broad, not attenuated at tip, but fourth (from 

 outside) with a projecting lobe or point at about middle of inner 

 web ; tail less than two-thirds to three-fourths as long as wing, decid- 

 edly rounded, but with relatively broad rectrices; bill very small, 

 the exposed culmen decidedly shorter than middle toe without claw, 

 and with primaries partly cinnamon-rufous. 



Bill relatively small, the exposed calmen decidedly shorter than 

 middle toe without claw (in most species little if any longer than outer 

 toe without claw) , not decurved terminally, the distance from ante- 

 rior end of nasal groove to tip always shorter than from same point 

 to base of nasal operculum; point of frontal feathering about on line 

 with malar antia, the mental antia about on line with anterior end of 

 nasal operculum or slightly anterior to it. Wing moderate, with 

 rounded tip, the longest primaries exceeding distal secondaries by 

 one-fifth to one-fourth the length of wing; third, third and fourth, 

 or fourth primaries (from outside) longest, the first (outermost) usu- 

 ally longer, sometimes shorter, than fifth; outermost primary broad 

 (sometimes broadest subapically), more or less strongly bowed, not 

 attenuated terminally; inner web of fourth primary (from outside) 

 with a large projecting lobe or point in middle portion. Tail less 

 than two-thirds to very nearly three-fourths as long as wing, decidedly 

 to strongly rounded, the rectrices (twelve in number) relatively 

 broad, with broadly rounded tips. Tarsus slightly longer than mid- 

 dle toe without claw, its upper frontal portion bare scarcely to the 

 tibio-tarsal joint, the acrotarium with a single series of broad trans- 

 verse scutella, the planta tarsi smooth or with very indistinct (prac- 

 tically obsolete) small hexagonal scales, sometimes (in C. talpacoti 

 and 0. ruji])ennis) with a line of short feat"hers along each side for 

 upper half (more or less) ; lateral toes decidedly shorter than middle 

 toe, the inner with claw reaching to base of middle claw, the outer 

 slightly shorter; hallux decidedly more slender than lateral toes, 

 about as long as basal and half of second phalanx of middle toe, or 

 slightly more. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage of head, neck and under parts 

 blended in some species, that of head, neck and chest scale-like in 

 others; bare orbital space restricted, broader beneath eye, not con- 



oA£7rT6s, delicate; irtXeia, a dove (Richmond). 



