GROUND DOVE. • 268 



blue ; back, scapulars and lesser wing-covcrts ashy brown ; tertials 

 spotted with black ; primaries edged and tipped with white ; forehead, 

 sides of the neck and breast, a pale brown vinous orange ; under the 

 ear feathers a spot or drop of deep black ; immediately below which the 

 plumage reflects the most vivid tints of green, gold and crimson ; chin 

 pale yellow ochre ; belly and vent whitish ; legs and feet coral red, 

 seamed with white ; the tail is long and cuneiform, consisting of four- 

 teen feathers ; the four exterior ones on each side are marked with black 

 about an inch from tlie tips, and white thence to the extremity ; the 

 next has less of the white at the tip ; these gradually lengthen to the 

 four middle ones, which are wholly dark slate ; all of them taper towards 

 the points, the two middle ones most so. 



The female is an inch shorter, and is otherwise only distinguished by 

 the less brilliancy of her color ; she also wants the rich silky blue on the 

 crown, and much of the splendor of the neck ; the tail is also somewhat 

 shorter, and the white with which it is marked less pure. 



Species III. COLUMBA PASSERINA. 



GROUND DOVE. 



[Plate XLVI. Rg. 2, Male.— Fig. 3, Female.] 



Linn. Syst. 2S.5. — Sloan. Jam. ii., 305. — Le Cocotzin, Fernandez, 24. — Buff, ii., 

 559, PI. Enl. 243.— £a petite Tourterelle, Briss. i., 113.— Tdbt. Syst. 478.— 

 Columha minuta, Ibid. p. 4Ti.*—Arct. Zool. p. 328, No. 191.— Catesb. i., 26.t 



This is one of the least of the Pigeon tribe, whose timid and inno- 

 cent appearance forms a very striking contrast to the ferocity of the 

 Bird-killer of the same plate. Such as they are in nature, such I have 

 endeavored faithfully to represent them. I have been the more par- 

 ticular with this minute species, as no correct figure of it exists in any 

 former work with which I am acquainted. 



The Ground Dove is a native of North and South Carolina, Georgia, 

 the new state of Louisiana, Florida, and the islands of the West Indies. 

 In the latter it is frequently kept in cages ; is esteemed excellent for 

 the table, and honored by the French planters with the name of Ortolan. 

 They are numerous in the sea islands on the coast of Carolina and 

 Georgia ; fly in flocks or coveys of fifteen or twenty ; seldom visit the 



* Prince Musignano considers this synonyme is incorrect. 



t Culumha I'asserina, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 611, No. 67, C. minuta, Id. p. 612, 

 No. 68. 



