216 



BLUE-HEADED GROUND PIGEON. 



Geophilus ? cyanocephalus. 



PLATE XXVII. 



Columba cyanocephala, 2. p. 608. sp. 54 W'dgler, Syst. 



Av. sp. 112. Turtur Jamaicensis, Briss. Orn. 1. p. 135. 



t. 13. f. 1 Colombe-Galline a cravate noire, Temm. Pig 



Fam. Trois. pi. 3. Id. 8vo. ed. 390 Blue-headed Tur- 

 tle, Lath. Syn. 4. p. 651. 45 Id. Sup. p. 100. 



IN this interesting bird we find a modification in 

 the form of the bill, not exhibited by any of the spe- 

 cies already described. It is nearly straight, the up- 

 per mandible having scarcely any deflection at the 

 tip, and the under one being without any apparent 

 angle, and so similar in appearance to that of a cer- 

 tain species of Turnix, that Temminck observes, the 

 bill of the one might be substituted for that of the 

 other, without detection. It has also the whole of 

 the base of the upper mandible covered with feathers, 

 an approximation to which we have seen in the Cop- 

 per-coloured Ground-Dove, in which bird the culmen 

 or upper part of that mandible is thinly clothed with 

 small feathers. The tarsi, which are pretty long, 

 are covered with small hexagonal scales, as in the 

 two species afterwards to be described ; and the 



