FAMILY COLUMBIDAE II 



COLUMBA SPECIOSA Gmelin: Scaled Pigeon; Paloma Escamosa 



Figure 2 

 Columba speciosa Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 783. (Cayenne.) 



A large pigeon, with dark neck heavily spotted with white. 



Description. — Length 290-340 mm. Male, crown and nape dark 

 reddish brown ; hindneck and upper back black glossed with metallic 

 green, each feather with a triangular light spot, white on the hind- 

 neck, changing to cinnamon-rufous on the back ; rest of upper surface, 

 including wing coverts, chestnut ; primaries and secondaries dark 

 grayish brown, narrowly edged with white ; tail dull black ; chin pale 

 vinaceous; neck and upper breast glossy black, each feather with a 

 spot of v/hite and cinnamon, producing heavy squamations ; lower 

 breast and sides varied from white to purple-drab, with the feathers 

 margined with dark brown; abdomen and under tail coverts white, 

 with the feathers tipped narrowly with dusky ; under wing coverts and 

 axillars dusky gray, tinged with chestnut toward edge of wing. 



Female, back, scapulars, smaller wing coverts and rump dull brown ; 

 otherwise like the male but usually whiter below. 



Immature, much duller in color. 



An adult male, taken at Sona, Veraguas, May 21, 1953, had the iris 

 dull brown; basal half of bill deep red; distal half dull Marguerite 

 yellow at tip, with a pinkish wash toward the base; tarsus and toes 

 purplish gray on the large anterior scutes, dull pinkish red on the 

 posterior face ; claws horn color. 



An adult female collected at Juan Mina, Canal Zone, January 19, 

 1955, had the iris dark brown ; free margin and line around base on 

 upper and lower eyelid red, rest dull grayish ; tip of bill flesh color, 

 rest bright red ; tarsus and toes purplish red ; claws fuscous. 



Measurements. — Males (13 from Panama), wing 175-186 (180), 

 tail 96.0-112.7 (103.6), oilmen 19.8-23.2 (21.2), tarsus 24.7-29.0 

 (25.9) mm. 



Females (5 from Panama and Colombia), wing 172-186 (177.2), 

 tail 90.0-100.5 (97.6), culmen 18.6-21.9 (19.7), tarsus 25.8-27.0 

 (26.5) mm. 



Resident. Widely distributed in wooded areas from sea level to 

 1 ,250 meters in the mountains. 



This is a pigeon of open forest that is confined to the mainland, the 

 only insular records being from the Laguna de Chiriqui (Coco Cay). 

 Their normal range is from the higher mangroves inland over the hills 

 where they live in the high tree crown. Wherever found their presence 

 is made known regularly by their guttural calls. Often they are seen 



