FAMILY COLUMBIDAE 57 



GEOTRYGON VIOLACEA ALBI VENTER Lawrence: Violaceous 

 Quail-Dove; Paloma Violacea 



Geotrygon albiventer Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1865, p. 108. 

 (Near Lion Hill Station, Canal Zone, Panama.) 



A quail-dove that is chestnut-brown above, with a strong violet sheen 

 on the center of the back. 



Description. — Length 210-245 mm. Adult male, crown gray, fore- 

 head paler, both washed with purple ; rest of upper surface chestnut- 

 brown, with the center of the back strongly violet and purple ; sides 

 of head and throat gray, washed with vinaceous ; foreneck lilac at the 

 sides, vinaceous at center, continuing thus over chest; rest of under 

 surface white to buffy white ; central under wing coverts white ; 

 remainder and under surface of wings chestnut to russet. 



Female, similar but duller in color ; more olive on upper surface ; 

 breast grayer. 



Juvenile, crown blackish brown, forehead a little paler ; elsewhere 

 on upper surface olive-brown, tipped and margined with dull cinna- 

 mon ; breast brownish gray, also tipped with cinnamon ; no violet on 

 the back. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and 

 Darien), wing 139.6-148.8 (142.5), tail 70.8-86.2 (78.8), culmen 

 13.5-14.9 (14.1), tarsus 26.0-29.4 (27.3) mm. 



Females (6 from Costa Rica, Darien, and Choco), wing, 138.6- 

 146.9 (144.0), tail 72.0-79.9 (75.6), culmen 14.0-15.2 (14.6), tarsus 

 27.0-28.5 (27.9) mm. 



Resident. Rare, recorded from the Atlantic slope of the Canal 

 Zone; Cerro Azul, Province of Panama; and Cerro Sapo, Chepigana, 

 and El Real, Darien. 



The original description by George N. Lawrence was taken from a 

 male collected by McLeannan near the Lion Hill Station of the Panama 

 Railroad, in the area now submerged in Gatun Lake. E. A. Goldman 

 obtained a female at 300 meters elevation on Cerro Azul on March 23, 

 1911. This bird flushed from the ground in a forested canyon, and 

 alighted on a limb about 6 meters from the ground. The Vanderbilt 

 Expedition of 1941 secured a female on Cerro Sapo, back of Gara- 

 chine, Darien, April 29. Richardson collected 3 at Chepigana, in 

 December 1914, 5 at El Real in December and the following January, 

 and 1 at Capeti, back of Boca de Cupe, May 26, 1915. A specimen in 

 the British Museum (Natural History) received from Boucard is 

 labeled Panama without other detail. 



These are the only records noted to date in the Republic. Elsewhere 



