Gronml-Dove of Porto Rico, 115 



The bills of my specimens were brownish black, becoming 

 quite black at the tip, and having the extreme base washed 

 with crimson. Along the edges of the mandibles is a narrow 

 line of crimson, lighter than that at the base. As 

 Mr. Chapman remarks, " the general appearance of the bill 

 is black. '^ I have never seen a trace of yellow or orange in 

 either male or female. The wings of my four males average 

 85'8 mm., and those of the females 84*5 mm. 



Cuban specimens are slightly larger than those from the 

 Bahamas, which have not as yet been described as having 

 any crimson wash at the base of the bill, otherwise there 

 can be little difference between them. I notice, however, 

 that in the Cuban specimens in the British Museum and in 

 my own collection the birds are slightly duller above and 

 beneath than those from the Bahamas. 



For the name aflavida, which is a compound of Greek 

 and Latin, I propose to substitute that of axantha. 



ChAMtEPELIA exigua. 



Colambigallina passerina exigua Riley, Proc. U.S. Nat. 

 Mus. xxix. p. 171 (1905). 



Hab. Mona Island, Puerto Rico, W.I. 



I have never seen specimens of Chamcepelia from this 

 island, which is thirty-eight miles from the mainland (Porto 

 Rico) — lying between it and S. Domingo. Mr. Riley 

 describes the colour of the bill as wholly black, and com- 

 pares the form with C. bahamensis and C. perpallida. It 

 differs, he says, from the Bahaman bird in being smaller and 

 much paler above and below, and from C. p. perpallida *' in 

 its paler coloration and wholly black bill." The female is 

 said to be similar to that of C. bahamensis, but smaller. 



It may be remarked that Mr. Riley compares his bird 

 with that of the Bahamas, which belongs to the black-billed 

 race, and also with the Venezuelan form (C. perpallida), 

 which belongs to the yellow-billed group. Since his bird 

 has the bill wholly black it would have been better to have 

 compared it with the Bermudan (black-billed) as well as 

 with the Bahaman form. 



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