382 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



as it belongs to a different subfamily. At present three species are known, 

 two of them recently described. Unless Z. yucatanensis proves to be a 



118 



Zenaidura carolinensis. 



hybrid between Zenaida amahilis and Zenaidura carolinensis, it may be 

 expedient to merge Zenaida and Zenaidura into one, since, if yucatensis 

 prove to be a permanent form, the additional pair of tail-feathers is all that 

 is left to characterize Zenaidura ; and when we consider that the wedge-tailed 

 Halicetus pelagicus has fourteen tail-feathers, while the round-tailed species 

 have only twelve, it seems reasonable to consider the difference as merely 

 specific in this case also. 



A. Secondaries broadly tipped with white. 



Z. yucatanensis.^ Beneath entirely deep purplish-vinaceous. Wing, 6.00 ; 

 tail, 4.90 ; culmen, .58 ; tarsus, .85 ; middle toe, .90. Hah. Yucatan. 



St Secondaries not tipped with white. 



Z. carolinensis. Beneath light purplish-vinaceous anterioi'ly ; crissum 

 nearly white. Wing, 5.90; tail, 6.00; culmen, .50; tarsus, .86; middle toe, 

 .82. Hah. Whole of North America, south to Panama; West Indies. 

 Z. graysoni.^ Beneath entirely uniform deep reddish-cinnamon. Wing, 

 6.00 ; tail, 5.15 ; culmen, .84 ; tarsus, 1.08 ; middle toe, .97. Hub. Socorro 

 Island, western coast of Mexico. 



1 Zenaidura yucatanensis. Lawk. Ann. N. Y. IX, 1869. This bird is so exactly intermediate 

 between the Z. carolineiisis and Zenaida amahilis, as to lead us to strongly suspect it is a 

 hybrid between the two. With the Z. carolinensis it agrees only in possessing fourteen tail- 

 feathers ; the coloration and size and shape of the bill being exactly those of Z. amahilis, 

 while the tail-feathers are intermediate in length and shape between those of the two si^ecies. 

 The colors differ from those of Z. amabilis only in being of a just appreciably lighter shade, there 

 being the same broad white tip to the secondaries, brilliant steel-blue sub-auricular spot, and 

 deep reddish ciissum, characterizing the Z. amahilis, as distinguished from Z. carolinensis. 



'^ Zenaidura graysoni, Lawh. Ann. N. Y. Lye. February, 1871, 17. A very distinct species, 

 remarkable for its large, very long, and much depressed bill, and deep ferniginous, in.stead of 

 pinkish-vinaceous, lower parts. The specimens are unfortunately all young birds, though they 

 are fully grown. 



