532 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



sex; this is probably due to exceptional vigor and development. 

 Several specimens also show an extension of the rufous chestnut of 

 the axillaries, ordinarily concealed by the closed wing, over the 

 flanks and sides of the abdomen. 



Measurements. — Male: wing, 84-89 (average, 86); tail, 59-65 (62); 

 exposed culmen, 11-12 (11.5); tarsus, 15-17 (16). Female: wing, 

 85-88 (86.5); tail, 55-63 (60); exposed culmen, 11. 5-12 (11.7); tarsus, 



I5-I7-5 (15-8). 



Range. — Peninsula of Florida, north regularly (chiefly coastwise) 

 to Charleston, South Carolina, occasionally to North Carolina and 

 westward to Louisiana; accidental in Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. 



Remarks. — The earliest reference pertaining to this form appears 

 to be that of Catesby (1731), whose description and figure formed part 

 of the basis of Linnaeus' name Columba passerina, the specific desig- 

 nation having probably been suggested by the upturned tail and 

 sparrow-like pose of the bird in Catesby's plate. This author seems 

 to have remained for many years the chief source of information 

 concerning the Ground Dove of this region, as later writers based 

 their accounts on his, sometimes without giving due credit. Wilson 

 was the next author to give an extended notice of the bird, and 

 Audubon's account, published in 1834, still remains the best we have, 

 although since then numerous additional facts have been put on 

 record concerning its nesting and distribution. 



It was not until 1887, however, that Mr. Charles J. Maynard 

 pointed out the differences between the bird of eastern North America 

 and that of the Bahamas, but being uncertain to which of these 

 Linnaeus' term passerina should apply, he proposed the provisional 

 name Chamcepelia purpurea for the "larger continental Dove." 

 This name, published in an obscure trade journal, was critically 

 discussed in 1892 by Mr. Frank M. Chapman, who considered it 

 "unavailable from [on] either logical or zoological grounds," Mr. 

 Maynard's "remarks being so vaguely worded as to be capable of 

 several interpretations." Having indicated the differences between 

 the bird of Jamaica (which he accepted as the type locality of Columba 

 passerina Linnaeus) and that of eastern North America, Mr. Chapman 

 accordingly proposed to call the latter by the subspecific name ter- 

 restris, but like Mr. Maynard he failed to designate a type. This 

 name was presently accepted by the American Ornithologists' Union 



