BIRDS COLUMBIDAE — ZENAIDURA. 



603 



MELOPELIA LEUCOPTERA, Bonap. 



White-winged Dove. 



Columba Uucoptera, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 176G, 281. (Not the locality— Asia.)— Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 773.— 



Wacler, Syst. Av. 1827, Columba, No. 71.— M'Cali,, Pr. A. N. Sc. IV, 1848, 64. 

 Zetittida Uucoptera, Gray, Gen. 

 Turtur leucopterus, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 304. 

 Mtlopelia Uucopkra, Bonap. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 81. 

 ? Columba hoilotl, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 777. 

 Columba trudeaui, AoD. Birds Amer. VII, 1843, 352 ; pi. 496. 



Sp. Cu. — Tail moderately graduated on the sides. Second and third quills longest ; first a little shorter ; fourth considerably 

 shorter. In the female the upper parts generally are light olive brown ; the head and neck above purplish, with a black spot 

 below the ear ; the lower part of the neck with scale feathers of metallic golden green. Forehead and under parts light bluish 

 gray ; more blue on the sides. Tail feathers, except the middle, bluish above, black beneath, broadly terminated with white ; 

 the upper surface with a bar of black in the end of the blue. Quills (except inner tertials) black, margined or tipped with 

 white; a broad white patch along the exterior of the greater wing coverls and alular feathers. Bill black ; bill pinkish purple. 

 Iris purple. Length, (female,) 11 inches ; wing, 6.00 ; tail, 4.75. 



Hab. — ^Valley of Rio Grande, southward, California, Dr. Cooper. West Indies. 



The preceding description is that of a female, no male being accessible to me. The differences 

 between the sexes are probably much like those in Edopistes, the blue of the breast and under 

 parts of the female, doubtless purplish cinnamon in tlie male. 



List of specimens. 



ZENAIDURA, Bonap. 



Zenaidura, Bonap. Consp. Avium, II, 1854,84. Type Columba carolinensis,!^. Probably named previously in 



Comptes Rendus. 

 Perissura, Cab. Jour, fur Orn. IV, 1856, 111. 



Ch. — Bill weak, black ; culmen from frontal feathers, about one-third the head above. Tarsus not quite as long as middle 

 toe and claw, but considerably longer than the lateral ones ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutallae. Inner lateral 

 claw considerably longer than outer, and reaching to the bas» of middle . Wings pointed ; second quill longest ; first and third 

 nearly equal. Tail very long, equal to the wings ; excessively graduated and cuneate, of fourteen feathers. 



The fourteen tail feathers render this genus very conspicuous among the North American 

 doves. It was formerly placed with the Passenger Pigeon in Edopistes, but has nothing in 

 common with it but the lengthened tail, as it belongs to a different sub-family. 



