COLUMBID.'E — THE PIGEONS. 381 



various kinds of berries, — among others, one highly poisonous to man, — 

 and mingle with their food particles of shells and gravel. They have two 



broods in a season. 



According to Mr. Audubon, their eggs measure 1.25 inches in length by 

 .87 of an inch in breadth, and are abruptly pointed at one end. He states 

 that they propagated readily in the aviary of the Earl of Derby, some being 

 let loose in the hope of introducing them into England. 



This species, known in Jamaica as the Pea Dove, is not, according to 

 March, gregarious, and, although terrestrial in habits, is often seen and heard 

 on trees, and also roosts there. It nests indiscriminately on the ground or 

 in trees, making a slight platform of sticks and twigs, loosely put together. 

 The eggs are two, oval or roundish-oval in shape, and white. They measure 

 from L20 to 1.32 inches in length by an inch in breadth. It is a favorite 

 cage-bird, and though apparently very timid and restless, becomes very tame 

 and docile, and will take grain from the hand or lips of its feeder. 



In Santa Cruz it is known as the Mountain Dove, and was there found 

 very common by Mr. Newton. It afforded excellent sport and was very 

 <Tood eating. It was not only numerous on the hills, but was likewise plen- 

 tiful in all parts of the island sufficiently overgrown with brush. Mr. Newton 

 did not find it so terrestrial in its habits as it is stated to be by some writers. 

 Its flight is said to be remarkably rapid. It breeds from April to the end of 

 July, and is said to build the ordinary Pigeon's nest, — a mere platform of 

 twigs in a bush or tree at any height from a few feet to twenty. It lays two 

 eggs, which, in Santa Cruz, were found by Mr. Newton to be perfectly white, 

 and not of a drab hue, as stated by Mr. Gosse. The young birds are often taken 

 from the nest and brought up without much difficulty. The cooing of this 

 Dove is stated to much resemble the noise made by sounding a conch-shell. 



The eo-'^s of the Zenaida Dove are more rounded in their shape than those 

 of most of our Pigeons, are white, equally obtuse at each end, and measure 

 1.30 inches in length by .90 in breadth. 



Genus ZBNAIDURA, Bonap. 



« 



Zenaidura, Bonap. Consp. Avium, 11, 1854, 84. (Type, Columba caroli'mnsis, L.) 

 Perissura, Cab. Jour, fiir Orn. IV, 1856, 111. (Same type.) 



Gen. Char. Bill weak, black ; culraen from frontal feathers about one third the head 

 above. Tarsus not quite au long as middle toe and claw, but considerably longer than 

 the lateral ones ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellse. Inner lateral claw 

 considerably longer than outer, and reaching to the base 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, 



