22 THE GROUND DOVE. 



lying down upon it for a long time, in the manner of Partridges and other 

 Gallinaceous birds, to which indeed they are closely allied. Their flesh is 

 excellent. 



Columba PAS8ERINA, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 285. 



Ground Dove, Columba passerina, Wils. Amer. Orn.. vol. iv. p. 15. 



Columba passerina, Bonap. Syn., p. 120. 



Ground Dove, Columba passerina, Aud. Amer. Ornith., vol. ii. p. 471; vol. v. p. 558. 



Male, 6f, 11. Female, 6*. 



Throughout the Floridas and their Keys, as well as from Louisiana to 

 North Carolina, including Alabama and Georgia. Pretty abundant Resi- 

 dent 



Adult Male. 



Bill rather short, slender, feeble, compressed, straight; upper mandible 

 with a tumid fleshy covering at the base, the tip rather obtuse, its margins 

 sharp; lower mandible nearly straight in its dorsal outline. Nostrils medial, 

 oblique, linear. Head small, roundish, neck short, body moderately full. 

 Legs short; tarsus short, compressed, covered anteriorly with a few trans- 

 verse scutella; toes free, slender, scutellate above; hind toe shorter and more 

 slender, the two lateral equal, the middle one not much longer; claws short, 

 compressed, deep, acute. 



Plumage soft, blended, without gloss. Wings of moderate length; second 

 quill longest, third nearly as long, first and fourth about equal; secondaries 

 long and rounded; the first, second and third primaries slight, cut out on 

 the outer margin. Tail of moderate length, rounded, of twelve broad, 

 rounded feathers. 



Bill pale red, inclining to orange, dusky at the tip. Iris orange-red. 

 Feet flesh-coloured. Forehead, sides of the head, anterior and lateral parts 

 of the neck, breast and sides, light purplish-red or vinaceous, the central 

 part of the neck-feathers dusky, hind head and posterior part of the neck 

 pale blue, the feathers edged with dark grey. Back brownish-grey, as are 

 the upper tail-coverts and two middle tail-feathers. Alula brownish-black, 

 as are the ends of the primary-coverts, of which the bases are deep red; 

 primaries deep red, broadly margined externally, and tipped with dusky 

 brown. Secondary quills and their coverts pale grey, tinged with red; the 

 smaller coverts and scapulars of a reddish colour like that of the breast, and 

 shewing oblong black spots glossed with purplish-blue and green. Lower 

 wing-coverts and under surface of the wings deep red; lower tail-coverts 

 brownish-grey, tipped with white. Tail-feathers grey at the base, bluish- 

 black towards the end, more or less tipped with grey, the outermost with a 

 touch of white on its outer edge at the tip. 



