2142 PIGEONS AND SAND GROUSE 



THE GROUND PIGEONS 

 Family PERISTERID^ 



In contradistinction to the preceding groups, which may be collectively spoken 

 of as tree pigeons, we now come to a family whose members live much on the ground. 

 This family of ground pigeons, which includes almost all the remaining species, is 

 distinguished from the tree pigeons by having the legs equal to or longer than the 

 middle toe. Seven subfamilies are recognized, in the first six of which the feathers 

 of the neck are never hackled. 



The group of mourning doves (Zenaidina) . distinguished bv having- 

 Mourning , , , . . 



Dove a ' :)lacklsn ' mor e or less metallic, spot below the ear coverts, includes 



thirteen rather small American species, placed in four genera, the first 

 (Zenaidura) resembling the two following ones in having the scapulars and upper 

 wing coverts spotted with black. It further agrees with the next genus (Zenaida} 

 in the tail being composed of fourteen feathers, and the bill nearly straight, but 

 differs in having the tail longer and generally wedge shaped. All the three species 

 are North and Central American, the best known being the mourning dove (Z. car- 

 olinensis) of the United States, Central America, and the West Indies. In the male, 

 of this species the crown and upper parts of the body are bluish, mostly washed with 

 light olive brown, the rest of the head and under parts being cinnamon buff, tinged 

 with purple on the breast. The female is smaller, and has the under parts brown 

 like the back, but paler. Captain Bendire states that this bird is frequently found 

 breeding in gardens and shrubberies near dwelling houses, feeding in the barnyard 

 among domestic fowls. Never occurring in large flocks like the passenger pigeon, 

 it is usually found in small parties of from six to a dozen or more, and in autumn, 

 previous to its migration, may be met with in flocks of fifty or sixty. It is fond of 

 alighting in roads, where it may often be seen searching for suitable food or gravel, 

 or taking a dust bath, of which it is very fond. In the more arid districts of the 

 West, such as South Arizona, where water is scarce, this dove, like the sand grouse, 

 visits regular watering places in the morning and evening, to which it may be seen 

 coming in small parties from all directions. The nesting sites chosen are variable, 

 and in some localities, such as the Carolinas, these doves nest chiefly on the ground, 

 while they are said occasionally to lay their eggs in other birds' nests. The old 

 birds are attentive to their young, even long after they have left the nest, and the 

 female has been observed covering fully-fledged young. As many as four eggs have 

 been found in one nest, but whether these were all laid by one bird is uncertain. 

 The seven species of the genus Zenaida, inhabiting the West Indies and Central and 

 South America, differ in having the tail only moderately long and rounded. The 

 Zenaida dove (Z. amabilis) of the West Indies has the upper parts brown, with some 

 black spots on the wings, the chin white, the cheeks and throat rufescent, two 

 steel-blue spots above and below the ear coverts, and the top of the head, breast, 

 and under parts vinous. The quills are black, edged with white, and there is a con- 

 spicuous white band at the end of the secondaries. Rather solitary in its habits, it 



