FAM. XJlJlI. pigeons 



215 



D. Tail an inch and a half shorter than the wings. (E.) 

 E. Neck all around of the same color and without metallic gloss 



1. Red-billed Pigeon. 



E. Top of head white or pale buffy ; hind neck with a cape of metallic 



bronze ; each feather of the cape edged with velvety black 



2. White-crowned Pigeon. 



1. Red-billed Pigeon (313. Columba flavirdstris). — A dark, 

 richly colored pigeon of Texas, with the head, neck, and breast 

 a purplish wine-color, and the back olive-brown with a bronzy 

 gloss. Other portions of the body more or less slate-colored. 

 Tail rounded and without white tips to its feathers. Base of 

 bill red in life. 



Length, 14 ; wing, 7| ; tail, 6J ; tarsus, |- ; culmen, only l, because of 

 the curious extension of the frontal feathers. Arizona to Texas, and 

 southward to Central America. 



2. White-crowned Pigeon (314. Columba leucociphala). — A 

 large, rare, southern, rich-slate-colored pigeon, with a white 

 crown (pale buffy on the female), and greenish, metallic reflec- 

 tions on the hind neck. The feathers of this " cape" are edged 

 with velvety black, and have a bronzy luster. 



Length, 12-14 ; wing, 7.} (7-7J) ; tail, 5J ; culmen, |. Southern 

 Florida, West Indies, and coast of Honduras. 



3. Passenger Pigeon (315. Ectox)istes migratvnus). — A large, 

 long-tailed, slate-blue-backed pigeon, with the lower parts 

 chestnut-colored to- 

 ward the chin, and 

 whitish toward the 

 tail. Tail pointed, 

 and the outer (un- 

 der) feathers with 

 much white ; sides 

 of the neck with a 

 purplish iridescence. 

 The female has the 

 upper parts less iridescent, and the lower parts decidedly 

 grayish. Probably the largest number of birds of any kind 



Passenger PigeoE 



