BIRDS — COLUMBIDAE — ECTOPISTES. 



509 



List of specimens. 



' Eyes, bill, and feet purple. 



COLUMBA LEUCOCEPHALA, Linn. 



White-headed Pigeon. 



Columba leucoctphala, Linn. Syst.Nat.I, 1766,281.— Gm. I, 772.— Lath. Ind. 1790, 594.- Bonap. J. A. N. S. Ph. 

 V, 1825, 30.— Ib. Syn. 119.— Ib. Am. Orn. II, 1828, 11 ; pi. xv.— Ib. Geog. List, 1838.— 

 NuTT. Man. I, 1832, 625.- Aud. Orn. Eiog. II, 1834,443: V, 557 ; pi. 177.— Ib. Birds 

 Amer. IV, 1842, 315 ; pi. 280 — Te.mm. Pig. et Gallin. I, 459.— Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847,299. 



Patagioenas leitcccephalus, Reiche.vb. Syst. Avium, 1851, p. .\xv. — Ib. Icones Av. tab. 223 and 255. — Bonap. 

 Consp. Av. II, 1854, 54. — Gundlach, Cdbanis Jour. 1856, 107. 



Sp. Ch. — Tail rounded. Second quill longest ; first equal to fourth. General color very dark slaty blue ; the quills and 

 tail feathers darker above ; black beneath . Upper half of head from bill to nape pure white, not reaching the edge of the 

 eyelids; margined beliind by bluish, which, however, on the back of the neck, passes into rich purplish brown ; the lower part 

 and sides of the neck scaled with metallic golden green, each feather margined with black. In life the bill purple, the tip light 

 blue. Iris while. Legs deep dark red. Length, 13.50 ; wing, 7.50 ; tail, 5.80. 



Hab. — Indian key and other southern keys of Florida . Not on main land ? West Indies generally. 



The female of this species appears precisely similar to the male. In the dried skin the red of 

 the bill and legs appear much the same ; the tip of the former whitish. 



List of specimens. 



1 Purple bill, with ligiit blue end ; feet red, iris whitish. « BlaDk eyes and whitish iris, bill purple, with light blue end. 



ECTOPISTES, Swuinsou. 



Eclopistes, SwAiNsoN, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 362. Type Columba migratoria, L. 



Oil. — Head very small. Bill short, black; culmen one-third the rest of the head. Tarsi very short, half covered ante- 

 riorly by feathers. Inner lateral claw much larger than outer, reaching to the base of the middle one. Tail very long and 

 excessively cuneate ; about as long as the wings. First primary longest. 



This genus is readily distinguished from the other Columbinae by the excessively lengthened 

 and acute middle feathers. It formerly included the Columba carolinensis, but this, with 

 more propriety, has been erected into a different genus, and will be found in the next section. 



