134 GROUND GOURA. 



La petite Tourterelle de la Martinique. Bu/. PI. Enl. 243,f, 1. 

 Colombi-Galline Cocotzin. Temm. Pig. (8ro.) p. 425. 

 Ground-Dove. Catesb. Carol. 1. pi. 26. Arct. Zoo/. 2. 191. 



Lath. Gen. Syn. 4. 659. 59. Lath. Syn. Sup. 100. Wilt. 



Amer. Orn. VI. p. 15. pi. 46. f. 2. male.yi 3. female. 



LENGTH six inches and a quarter: beak pale 

 red, tipped with dusky.: irides orange : the upper 

 parts of the head and neck are ash-coloured : the 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts the same, but 

 darker : the forehead, throat, fore-part of the neck, 

 breast, sides, belly, and under tailrcoverts, vina- 

 ceous ; the feathers of the neck and breast spotted 

 with brown in their centres, giving those parts a 

 mottled appearance : part of the wing-coverts deep 

 ash ; the rest vinaceous, with several glossy green 

 spots : beneath tne wing rufous : the quills are 

 rufous, with their outer margins and tips dusky : 

 the two middle tail-feathers deep ash-colour, the 

 others dusky : the legs red j the claws dusky. The 

 female differs in being of a less vivid hue. 



This bird inhabits the warmer parts of America, 

 but mostly within the tropics, though occasionally 

 found in Carolina and the southern parts of Pen- 

 sylvania. With the rest of the genus it feeds upon 

 the ground like Partridges, makes a short flight, 

 and then alights on the ground again : it is gre- 

 garious, and feeds upon grain and seeds. 



