15. 
16. 
17. 
COLUMBIDA —ZENAIDINA!: GROUND DOVES. 569 
Z. ama/bilis. (Lat. amabilis, lovely.) ZENAIDA Dove. Olive-gray with a reddish tinge ; 
crown and under parts vinaceous-red ; sides and axillars bluish; a velvety-black auricular 
spot, and others on the wing-coverts and tertiaries; secondaries tipped with white ; neck with 
metallic lustre; middle tail-feathers like the back, others bluish with whiter tips, a black band 
intervening; bill black with crimson corners of the mouth ; iris brown ; feet red; claws black. 
Length about 10.00; wing 6.00; tail 4.00. West Indies and Florida Keys. 
MELOPELI'A. (Gr. peédos, melos, melody ; meAeva, peleia, a deve.) WHITE-wInG Doves. 
Tail rounded, shorter than wing, of 12 broad, rounded feathers. Wings pointed; Ist, 2d, and 38d 
primaries nearly equal and longest. Bill slender and lengthened, equalling tarsus, black. A 
large bare circumorbital space. A blue-black spot below auriculars, but none on wings ; neck 
with metallic lustre. A great white space on wing. Feet as in other Zenaidine. Sexes alike. 
M. leuco’ptera. (Gr. Aevkds, lewcos, white; mrepdv, pteron, wing.) WHITE-WING Dove. 
Wing with a broad white bar oblique from the carpal joint to the ends of the longest coverts, 
continued by white edging at and near ends of outer webs of the secondaries : very couspicuous, 
recognizable at gun-shot range. Lower back and rump, some of the middle coverts, lining of 
wings, and entire under parts from the breast, fine light bluish-ash. Primaries blackish with 
narrow white edging. Tail, excepting two middle feathers, slaty-blue, becoming gradually 
slaty-black, then broadly and squarely tipped with ashy-white. General color of back, lesser 
wing-coverts, inner quills, and middle tail-feathers, olive-brown with some lustre; the tail- 
feathers browner; the top of head and back of neck purplish-vinous with a slight glaucous 
shade; sides of neck iridescent. with golden-green ; a violet or steel-blue spot below auriculars. 
Bill black, very slender. Length 11.25-12.25; extent 19.00-20.00; wing 6.00-6.50; tail 
4.00-4.50 ; bill 0.87; tarsus 0.87; middle toe and claw 1.25. @ scarcely distinguishable. 
In the youngest, the white wing-bar appears, though there is little or no purplish, or iri- 
_descence, or blue-black below ears. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and S. Cala. and southward, 
abundant in suitable localities. In the breeding season, Apr.—May, the sonorous cooing is 
incessant. Nest in bushes and low trees, slight and frail, of sticks: and weeds; eggs 2, white 
or creamy, averaging 1.18 0.88. 
CHAMZEPELIA. (Gr. yayai, chamai, on the ground; méAeta, peleia, adove.) DWwArF DovEs. 
Very small. Wings short and broad, with elongated inner secondaries, nearly overreaching 
primaries in the folded wing. ‘Tail still shorter than wing, nearly even, of 12 broad feathers. 
Bill slender, about half as long as head, mostly yellow. Feet largely zenaidine; tarsus as 
long as middle toe without claw. No iridescence nor blue-black spot on head; such spots on 
wings. Sexes unlike, but Arcades ambo. 
C. passeri/na, (Lat. passerina, sparrow-like ; from the pygmy stature.) GRouND Dove. 
Grayish-olive, glossed with blue on the hind head and neck, most feathers of the fore-parts 
with darker edges, those of the breast with dusky centres. Forehead, sides of head and neck, 
lesser wing-coverts and under parts purplish-red of variable intensity, paler or grayish on the 
belly and crissum; under surface of wings orange-brown or chestnut, this color suffusing the 
quills to a great extent ; upper surface of wings sprinkled with lustrous steel-blue spots. Middle 
tail-feathers like the back, others plumbeous, blackening toward ends, with paler tips. Feet 
yellow; bill yellow with dark tip. Diminutive: length 6.50-7.00; extent 10.00-11.00; wing 
3.50, with inner secondaries nearly as long as the primaries; tail 2.75, rounded; bill 0.45 ; 
tarsus 0.67; middle toe and claw 0.75. Q and young differ as those of the wild pigeon and 
carolina dove do, the purplish tints being replaced by gray or ‘‘ ashes of roses,” the very young 
bird having whitish skirting of the feathers. Southern U. §., Atlantie to Pacific, but chiefly 
coastwise ; N. to the Carolinas, and accidentally to Washington, D. C.; common. Nest on 
the ground or in bushes indifferently ; eggs 2, white, 0.87 0.63. 
C. p. palles/cens? (Lat. pallescens, bleaching.) Searcely different ; described as paler. Cape 
St. Lucas. 
