566 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — COL UMB^ — PERISTEB^. 



Pigeons. Tail loug, equal to the wings, cuneate, of 12 tapering acuminate feathers, parti- 

 colored. Wing acutely pointed by first 3 primaries, with black spots on the coverts. Bill 

 small, with culmen less than half the head, short gonys, feathered far forward between the rami. 

 Tarsi short, feathered part way down in front, where scutellate, but not in one regular row of 

 scales. Lateral toes unequal. Sexes unlike. 

 543. E. migrato'rius. (Lat. migratorius, migratory. Fig. 390.) PASSENGER Pigeon. Wild 

 Pigeon. Adult $: Upper parts, including head all around, slaty-blue, bright and pure on head 

 and rump, shaded with olivaceous-gray on the back and wings; the back and sides of the nock 



glittering with golden 

 and violet iridescence, 

 the wing-coverts with 

 velvety - black spots. 

 Below, from the throat, 

 light pui-plish-chestnut, 

 paler behind and fad- 

 ing into white on the 

 lower belly and cris- 

 sum. Tibiae, sides of 

 body, and lining of 

 wings like upper parts. 

 Quills blackish, with 

 rufous - white edging. 

 .Two middle tail-feath- 

 ers blackish ; others 

 fading from pearly - 

 Fig. 390. - Passenger Pigeon. (From Tenney, after Wilson. ) ^^^^^1^ -^^^^ ^j^^^^^ ^,^^5^. 



extreme bases with black and chestnut spots. Bill black ; feet lake red, drying an undefinable 

 color; iris orange; skin about eye red. Length about 17.00, but very variable, according to 

 development of the tail; extent 23.00-2.5.00 ; wing 8.00-8.50; tail about the same, the lateral 

 feathers graduated rather more than half its length ; bill 0.75 ; tarsus 1.00 ; middle toe and claw 

 1.25. Adult 9 '• Upper parts, wings and tail, as in $ : below, brownish-gray, fading poste- 

 riorly. Young: Like the 9 > l^ut still duller; little or no clear slaty except on rump; plumage 

 varied vpith white crescentic edges of the feathers, especially on the back and wings ; quills 

 edged about with rufous; most of the lateral tail-feathers gray. "Wanders continually in 

 search of food throughout aU parts of N. Am. ; wonderfully abundant at times in particular 

 districts;" chiefly, however, temperate N. Am., East of the R. Mts. We do not have the 

 '* millions" that the earlier writers speak of in the Eastern U. S. now : but I remember one 

 great flight over Washington when I was a boy : the greatest roosts and flights we now hear 

 of are in the upper Mississippi Valley. Nest in trees and bushes, a slight frail platform of 



equal-ended, 1.45 X 1.05. 



49. Subfamily ZENAIDIN/E: Ground Doves. 



Feet larger than in Columbince. Tarsus lengthened to exceed the lateral toes, entirely 

 naked and scutellate in front (scarcely feathered in Scardafella). Tail-feathers normally 12, 

 larely 14 or more (Zenaidura the only North American Pigeon with more than 12). Seven 

 North American genera, each of a single species in this country. 



Analysis of Genera. 



Tail of 14 feathers Zenaidura 195 



Tail of 12 feathers. 



Outer primary attenuate, bistoury-like Engyptila 194 



