710 SYSTEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — COL UMB.E — PERISTER.E. 



and claw about as long as lateral without. Coutaiiis the domestic Pigeon, C. livia ; Stock 

 Dove, C. anas; Ring Dove, C. palumbus, and numerous other species of both hemi- 

 spheres. 



Analysis of Species. 



A white band on nape ; metallic scales of nape without borders. Tail with light terminal and dark subterminal bars ; 



bill and feet yellow, former black-tipped fasciata 



No white on head ; no metallic scales on nape ; tail not banded ; bill and feet not yellow flavirostris 



Top of head white ; tail not banded ; metallic feathers of nape black-bordered leucocep/iala 



See description, below, for squamosa 



C. fascia'ta. (Lat. fasciata, banded ; alluding to the bars on the tail.) Band-tailed 

 Pigeon. White-collared Pigeon. Adult ^ : Head, neck, and under parts purplish 

 wine-red, fading to white on belly and crissum; nape with a distinct white half-collar; cervix 

 with a patch of metallic, scaly, bronze-green feathers. Rump, upper tail-coverts, lining of 

 wings, and sides i>f body, slaty-blue. Back and scapulars dark greenish-brown, with consid- 

 erable lustre, changing on wing-coverts to slaty-blue, these feathers with light edging. Quills 

 blackish-brown, with pale edging along sinuous portion of outer webs. Tail bluish-ash, paler 

 beyond the middle on top and much paler below, crossed at the middle by a black bar. Bill 

 yellow, tipped with black; feet yellow, claws black ; a red ring round eye — these colors con- 

 spicuous in life. A large stout species: length 16.00; extent about 27.00 ; wing 8.00-8.50, 

 pointed; tail 5.50-6.00, square; bill 0.75, stout for a Pigeon ; tarsus 1.00, feathered half-way 

 down in front ; middle toe and claw 1.67. Adult 9 '• Back, wings, and tail, as in ^; metallic 

 scales and white collar obscure or wanting. Head and under parts much less purplish, the rich 

 hue replaced by a rusty-brown wash on an ashy ground ; yellow of feet and bill obscured ; 

 smaller; wing 7.50; tail 4.75. Young ^: Resembling 9 hi dulness of coloration, but the feath- 

 ers of most parts with indistinct light edgings; no sign of a clean collar, under parts dull gray, 

 browner on the breast. Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. S. and British Columbia, S. to Guate- 

 mala, common and of general but irregular distribution, chiefly in woodland, and especially 

 where acorns, upon which it largely subsists, can be procured ; sometimes in flocks of great 

 extent. Nest very slight and frail, in trees and bushes, rarely on the ground ; eggs 2, on our 

 southern border only one as a rule, equal-ended, Avhite, glistening, averaging 1.60 X 1-15, 

 ranging from 1.75 X 1-20 down to 1.45 X 1-10, laid in almost every month of the year, and 

 said to be sometimes carried about by the 9 • 



C. f . vios'cae. (To Mr. Viosca, U. S. Consul, La Paz, Lower California.) Viosca's 

 Pigeon. Similar to C fasciata, but with the tail-band wanting or only ftiintly indicated, 

 the general coloration lighter and more uniform, the vinaceous tints, especially, being nnjre or 

 less replaced by bluish-ash. Lower California. Brewst. Auk, Jan. 1888, p. 86 ; CouES, 

 Key, 4th ed, 1890, p. 904 ; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 312 a. 



C. flaviros'tris. (Lat. flavirostris, yellow-billed; Jlavus, yellow; rostrum, beak.) Red- 

 billed Pigeon. Adult ^i Head, neck, and breast dark purplish wine-red, with a slight 

 glaucous overcast, like the bloom on a grape ; no metallic scales on neck. Middle wing- 

 coverts like the head. Middle of back, and some inner wing-quills, dark olive-brown with a 

 bronze-green gloss. Greater wing-coverts, lining of wings, sides of body, belly, crissum, and 

 rump, slate-colored, sometimes quite sooty, sometimes more bluish; tail like rump, but more 

 blackish, quite uniform, having no lighter or darker bands. Quills of wing dark slate with 

 narrow pale edging. Bill pink for basal half, rest pale horn-color; feet purplish-red, with 

 pale claws; eye-ring red; iris orange. Bill and feet drying an undefinable color. Bill re- 

 markable for forward extension of feathers on culmen, to within 0.50 of tip, covering nasal scale. 

 Length 13.50-14.50; extent 23.00-25.00; wing 7.50-8.00; tail 5.00-5.50; tarsus 0.87; 

 middle toe and claw 1.50. 9 '^"d yr>ung similar, duller, and more dilute in color, the wine-red 

 and slate-color more ashy. Central America, Mexico, Lower California, N. to Texas, New 



