BIEDS— COLUMBIDAE — ECTOPISTES. 



699 



List of specimens. 



^ Byes, bill, and feet purple. 



COLUMBA LEUCOCEPHALA, Linn. 



White-headed Pigeon. 



Colvmha leucoeephala, Liss . Syst. Nat. 1, 1766,281.— Gm. I, 779.— Lath. Ind. 1790,594.— Eonap. J. A. N. S.Ph. 

 V, 183S, 30.— Ib. Syn. 119.— Ib. Am. Orn. II, 1828, 11 ; pi. xv.— Ib. Geog. List, 1838.— 

 NnxT. Man. I, 1832, 625.— Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834,443: V, 557 ; pi. 177.— Ib. Birds 

 Amer. IV, 1842, 315 ; pi. 280.— Temm . Pig. et Gallin. I, 459.-^Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847,299. 



Patttgioenas Isucocephalus, Reichenb. Syet. Avium, 1851, p. xxv.^ — Ib. Icones Av. tab. 223 and 255. — Eonap. 

 Consp. Av. II, 1854, 54. — Gundlach, Cabanis Jour. 1856, 107. 



Sp. Ch.— Tail rounded. Second quill longest ; first equal to fourth. General color very dark slaty blue ; the quills &n 

 tail feathers darker above ; black beneath . Upper half of head from bill to nape pure white, not reaching the edge of the 

 eyelids; margined behind by bluish, which, however, on the back of the n»ok, passes' into rich purplish brown ; the lower part 

 and sides of the neck scaled with metallic golden green, each feather margined with black. In life the bill purple, the tip light 

 blue. Iris white. Legs deep dark red. Length, 13.50 ; wing, 7.50 ; tail, 5.80. 



Hob. — Indian key and other southern keys of Florida. Not on main land .' West Indies generally. 



The female of this species appears precisely similar to the male. In the dried skin the red of 

 the bill and legs appear much the same ; the tip of the former whitish. 



liist of specimens. 



1 Purple bill, with light blue end ; feet red, iris whitish. '^ Blaok eyes and whitish iris, bill purple, with light blue end. 



ECTOPISTES, Swain son. 



Ectopistes, Stvainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 362. Type Columba migratoria, L. 



Ch. — Head very small . Bill short, black j culmen one-third the rest of the head. Tarsi very short, half covered ante- 

 riorly by feathers . Inner lateral claw much larger than outer, reaching to the base of the middle one. Tail very long and 

 excessively cutoata ; about as long as the wings. First primary longest. 



This genus is readily distinguished from the other Oolumbinae by the excessively lengthened 

 and acute middle feathers. It formerly included the Oolumba carolinensis, but this, with 

 more propriety, has been erected into a different genus, and will be found in the next section. 



