36 CHARAURIIFORMES 



CHAI'. 



Islands has a greenish-grey head and brownish upper surface, 

 with brilliant violet-purple on the wings and a vinous breast, 

 while the female differs in being olive-brown, with the head and 

 breast dull cinnamon. P. kuharyi of the Caroline group is almost 

 entirely violet-purple above, the head being grey, the forehead, 

 sides of the neck, throat, and breast white. Geotrygon with some 

 dozen and a half species extends from South Mexico to Paraguay, 

 several of them being peculiar to the West Indies. G. montana, 

 the " Mountain-Partridge," ranges from Key West and Cuba to 

 Paraguay. It has a purplish-rufous upper surface, while the lower 

 parts are whitish-fawn colour, with a purplish breast. The female 

 is olive with a tinge of gold above, and chiefly buff' below, with 

 browner breast. G. chrysia of Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas, and 

 the Florida Keys has reddish-brown upper parts, with reflexions 

 of brilliant purple, green, and gold, and vinaceous-white lower 

 parts. G. violacea of Central America and Brazil, G. cristata, the 

 " Mountain- Witch," of Jamaica, G. linearis of Colombia, and other 

 species, bear a general resemblance to the above. These birds 

 frequent thickly-wooded districts or mountainous tracts, where 

 they feed upon the ground on seeds, fallen berries, snails, and 

 slugs. They often have recourse to running, yet the flight is 

 rapid and whirring; the note is a moaning coo, the nest a slight 

 structure on bushes, trees, or even the ground. Osculatia pur- 

 purea and 0. sapphirina are two beautiful Ecuadorian Pigeons, 

 of which the former has a rich purple crown and occiput, a 

 purplish -violet mantle with duller wings, a violet ruinp, a 

 bronzy-green hind-neck, a white forehead, throat, and abdomen, 

 a greyish breast, and white cheeks with a black transverse stripe 

 below. The latter has the crown grey, the occiput golden-green. 

 Leptoptiht {Engyptila of some authors), distributed from Texas 

 to Argentina, contains about seventeen somewhat similar forms, 

 which have olive-brown upper parts, with red, green, and dove- 

 coloured reflexions, and usually pinkish-white or greyisli under 

 parts. The wing-quills almost invariably shew some cinnamon 

 on their inner webs, while in L. rufinucha, the region of the 

 nape is rufous. The White -bellied Pigeon of Jamaica {L. 

 jamaicensis) is an unsuspicious bird which habitually lives on 

 the ground in woods, eats seeds and fruits, runs, walks, or flies 

 for short distances, and sometimes uses straw instead of sticks 

 for its nest. The genus ITaplopelia is restricted to the Ethiopian 



