Todd : A Revision of the Genus Ch&mepelia. 565 



less purplish vinaceous below, and l>ill usually extensivelj yellowish 



,i: base I ill skin). 



Measurements. — Male (seven specimens): wing, 80-84 ( aV( 

 82); tail, 53-60 (57); exposed culmen, 11-12 (11.1i: tarsus, [5 [6.5 

 (15.6). Female (four specimens): wing, 78-83 (81); tail, 55 60 

 exposed culmen, 10-11.5 (11); tarsus, 15. 



Range. — Islands of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman 

 Brae, WVst Indies. 



Remarks. — When Mr. Ridgway discriminated this form in [887 lie 

 had no specimens of the Ground Dove from Cuba or Jamaica, and 

 made his comparison with Bahaman birds. The type is a very pale 

 individual — fully as pale above as the average of C. p. pallescens — but 

 other specimens are darker. Three of the skins before me have the 

 color of the bill marked as "brown," "dull red," and "red" respec- 

 tively. This fails to substantiate Mr. Ridgway's guess as to the 

 color of the bill in life, upon which he mainly based his distinction. 

 The character is more or less apparent in the dry skin, however, but 

 is not constant. The bestowal of a name upon the present form has 

 given rise to considerable discussion as to its status. Dr. Lowe has 

 insisted that it must be identical with the Jamaican bird (in which 

 case the latter would have to be called C. p. insularis), but in the 

 writer's judgment it is much closer to the Cuban bird instead, so far 

 at least as general coloration is concerned, females being practically 

 indistinguishable. On the other hand, as remarked under the head 

 of C. p. pallescens, some specimens of the latter from Cozumel Island, 

 Yucatan, apparently show r a marked approach to C. p. insularis in 

 the color of the bill, and at least one specimen from Cozumel (Xo. 

 129,614, Collection U. S. National Museum) is fully as small as 

 C. p. insularis. 



The status of examples from Little Cayman and Cayman Brae is 

 further open to question, and they are ranged here only provisionally. 

 A small series from Cayman Brae is so badly discolored by the pre- 

 servative as to be entirely unfit for comparison, while a pair from 

 Little Cayman are perhaps nearer the present form. Until more and 

 better material from all three islands is available, however, it will be 

 difficult to come to any more certain conclusion with reference to the 

 characters of insularis and its claims to recognition as a distinct 

 subspecies. As might be expected, it is intermediate between ('. p. 

 aflavida and C. p. jamaicensis, and it may eventually be found desir- 

 able to unite it with the former. 



