﻿304 Mr. E. Hartert on the Birds of 



17. Buteo albicaudatus colonus, Berl. J. f. O. 1892, 

 pp. 89 & 91 (Curasao) . 



Seen, but not procured. Possibly, however, it was not 

 this form, but the continental one. 



18. Zenaida vinaceo-rufa, Ridgw. Pioc. U, S. Nat, Mus. 

 1884, p. 176 (Curacao). 



Very common. Identical with examples from Curacao. 



19. COLUMBA GYMNOPHTHALMA, Temm. 



Not rare on Aruba. Identical with specimens from 

 Curacao. 



20. COLUMBIGALLINA PASSER] NA PERPALL1DA, Subsp. nOV. 



Columbigallina passerina, Berl. J. f. O. 1892, p. 97 

 (Curacao). 



There is hardly a bird that presents more local variation 

 than this pretty little Ground-Dove. North-American 

 authors distinguish between the form inhabiting the " South- 

 Atlantic and Gulf States " and the one reaching from the 

 South-western States throughout Mexico. The former they 

 used to call C. passerina, but later on it was named C. pas- 

 serina purpurea by Maynard, and has quite recently been 

 renamed C. passerina terrestris by Chapman. 



I have collected a large series from the three Dutch West- 

 Indian Islands. All of them differ from the forms of other 

 countries, that I have seen, in their pale colour throughout, 

 and especially on the under tail-coverts, in the rather shorter 

 wing, and in the base of the bill being yellow, not red. On 

 Porto Rico and St. Thomas I shot examples of a different 

 race, much richer and darker in colour everywhere ; the base 

 of the bill deep red, not yellow, and the wing also short. 



The typical form of Linnseus's C. passerina must be the 

 Jamaica bird (cf. Berl. J. f. O. 1892, p. 97), which, if any- 

 thing, has the wing a little longer on the average than the 

 one from Porto Rico, and stands, as regards coloration, 

 between the pale and dark forms. The Eastern North- 

 American bird is closely allied to this form, but it is said to 

 have the base of the bill red, and the wing is certainly a 

 little longer. It might therefore be distinguished sub- 

 [16] 



