THE CAROLINA DOVE. 375 



to support the parent bird : it is but very little hollowed, 

 and has no lining of softer material. The female deposits 

 in this one or two eggs, on which both birds incubate. 

 These eggs are pure-white in color, nearly oval in form, and 

 have the slightest roseate tint before their contents are 

 removed: they average in dimensions about 1.54 by 1.10 

 inch. Many writers affirm that but one egg is laid at 

 a time. I think that in the greater number of nests two 

 are deposited, as I have inquired of many hunters and 

 woodsmen, and they all agree on that number. 



Sub-Family ZENAIDIN.E. 



Tarsi stout, lengthened ; always longer than the lateral toes, and entirely with- 

 out feathers; the tibial joint usually denuded; tarsus sometimes with hexagonal 

 scales anteriorly ; tail feathers sometimes fourteen. 



ZENAIDURA, BONAPARTE. 



Zenaidura, BONAPARTE, Consp. Avium, II. (1854) 84. (Type Columba Caroli- 

 nensis, L.) Probably named previously in Comptes Rendus. 



Bill weak, black; culmen from frontal feathers, about one-third the head above; 

 tarsus not quite as long as middle toe and claw, but considerablj" longer than the 

 lateral ones ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellae ; 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 Ectopistes, 

 but has nothing in common with it but the lengthened tail, as it belongs to a differ- 

 ent sub-family. 



ZENAIDUEA CAROLINENSIS. Bonaparte. 

 Js The Carolina Dove ; Turtle Dove. 



Columba Carolinensis, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766), 286, No. 37. Wils. Am. 

 Orn., V. (1812) 91. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. (1831) 91; V. (1839) 555. Nutt. Man., I. 

 (1832) 626. 



Zenaidura Carolinensis, Bonaparte. Consp. Av., II. (1854) 84. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Tail feathers fourteen; above bluish, although this is overlaid with light brown- 

 ish-olive, leaving the blue pure only on the top of the head, the exterior of the 



