606 



U. S. p. K. B. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL EEPOET. 



All tlie quills except tlie innermost lertials orange brown ; the outer margins and tips dusky brown ; the under coverts orange 

 brown; the axillars strongly tinged with sooty. Tail feathers blackish, tinged with gray above ; all (except the innermost) 

 broadly tipped with wliilc ; the exterior with the white extending backwards on the outer web. Iris purple ; bill black ; feet 

 flesh color. (Female.) Length, 8 inches ; wing, 3.75 ; tail, 4.10. 

 Hab. — South side of valley of Rio Grande, southward. 



I regret that no males of this diminutive dove were before me in describing the species. 

 The single female specimen is in rather poor condition also. 



List of specimens. 



CHAMAEPELIA, Swain son. 



Chamaepeha, Swainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1327, 3G1. Type Columba passenna, L. 



Ch. — Size very small. Bill slender, elongated. Culmen more tlian half the head measured from frontal feathers. Legs 

 stout. Tarsi longer than lateral toes ; equal to the middle without its claw ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellae. 

 Wings broad ; the tertials excessively lengthened ; nearly as long as the primaries ; quite equal to the first primary. Tail 

 nearly as long as the wings ; rounded laterally. 



This group embraces the most diminutive doves known to naturalists. A single species is 

 found abundantly in the southern United States. 



CHAMAEPELIA PASSERINA, S w a i n s o n . 

 Ground Dove. 



Columba passerina, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat I, 17C6, 285. — Gmelin, I, 1788, 787. — Latham, Ind. Orn. 11, 1790, 611. — 

 Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 15 ; pi. xlvi. — Wagler, Syst. Av. Columba, No. 88. — Aud. Orn. 

 Biog. II, 1834, 471 : V, 1839, 558 ; pi. 183.— Ib. Syn. 192.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 19 ; pi. 

 283. 



Columba (Goura) passerina, Bonap. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 181.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 120.— Nottall, Man. I, 1832, 635. 



CItaemepelia passerina, Swainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 358. 



Chamaepelia passerina, Bonap. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, II, 1854, 77. — Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 311. 



Sp. On. — Back, rump, exposed surface of tertials, and tail above, uniform grayish olive ; neck above and occiput tinged with 

 bluish ; forehead, sides of head, and neck, under parts generally and lesser upper wing coverts, light purplish red, tinged with 

 dusky towards the tail. Feathers of the head, neck, and fore breast, margined with a darker shade of the grosnd color, the 

 forehead and chin, only, nearly uniform. Feathers of the breast dusky brown in the centre, this most conspicuous on the 

 jugulum. Under wing coverts, axillars, and quills, brownish orange; the latter margined externally and tipped with dusky 

 brown, the tertials almost entirely of this color. Middle tail feathers like the back ; the others mostly black, the outer one 

 edged towards the tip with white. The exposed surface of the wing variously marked with blotches exhibiting black, steel 

 blue, and violet. Bill and feet yellow ; the former tipped with brown. 



Female with little or none of the purplish red. 



Length, 6.30 ; wing, 3.50 ; tail, 2.80. 



Hab — South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Lower California. Accidental near Washington, D. C. 



The female of this dove is without the purplish red of the male, this being replaced by pale 



