94 CAROLINA TURTLE DOVE. 



CoLUMRA CAROLiNENSis, Linji. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 286. — Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 

 p. 613 Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 119. 



Carolina Pigeon, Lath. Syn. voL iv. p. 663. 



Carolina Pigeon, or Turtle Dove, Columba carolinensis, Wils. Amer. Or- 

 nith. vol. V. p. 91. PL xliii. fig. 1. 



Adult Male. Plate XVII. Fig. 1, 1. 



Bill straight, of ordinary length, rather slender, broader than deep at 

 the base, with a tumid fleshy covering, compressed towards the end, 

 rather obtuse ; upper mandible slightly decUnate at the tip ; edges in- 

 volute. Head small. Neck slender. Body rather full. Legs short and 

 strong ; tarsus covered anteriorly with scutella, rather rounded ; toes 

 scutellate, slightly webbed at the base ; claws short, depressed, obtuse. 



Plumage compact on the back, blended and soft on the head, neck 

 and under parts. Wings long, second quiU longest. Tail wedge-shaped, 

 long, of fourteen feathers, the middle ones tapering, the rest obtuse. 



Bill blackish, at the base carmine-purple. Iris hazel ; orbit greenish- 

 blue. Feet carmine-purple ; claws dusky. Crown of the head, and up- 

 per part of the neck, bright greenish-blue ; the rest of the upper parts, 

 including the wing-coverts, light yellowish-brown, tinged with light blue, 

 of which colour are the edges of the wings, and the outer webs of the 

 quills towards the base. Some of the proximal wing-coverts spotted with 

 black. Forehead, and sides of the head brownish-yellow, which colour 

 predominates on the under parts, the breast and neck tinged with blue, 

 and the abdomen and under tail-coverts paler. Quills dusky, margined 

 externally with whitish, the last secondaries light brown and spotted with 

 black. The two middle tail-feathers, and the outer webs of the next five 

 on each side like the back ; all the feathers, excepting the middle ones, 

 have a spot of black about an inch from their extremity, the space be- 

 tween which and the base is bright greenish-blue, that beyond it being- 

 paler and tinged with brown, excepting in the three outer feathers, where 

 it is white, as is the outer web of the outermost. 



Length 12 inches, extent of wings 17 ; bill along the ridge /j, along 

 the gap f . 



Adult Female. Plate XVII. Fig. 2, 2. 



The female is somewhat duller in the tints of the plumage ; the bright 



