24 THE BLUE-HEADED PIGEON. 



the creeping plants which grew in the place where I saw the pair mentioned 

 above. • 



Columba cyanocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 282. 



Blue-headed Pigeon, Columba cyanocephala, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 411. 



Male, 12 i, 17£. 



Accidental on the southernmost Florida Keys in summer only. 



Adult Male. 



Bill straight, and short, rather slender, compressed; upper mandible with 

 a tumid fleshy covering at the base, a convex declinate obtuse tip, of which 

 the margins are acute and overlapping; lower mandible with the angle near 

 the extremity, which is compressed and rounded. Nostrils medial, oblique, 

 linear. Head small and compressed; the general form robust, resembling 

 that of many Partridges. Legs short and of moderate length; tarsus covered 

 anteriorly and laterally with quincuncial sub-hexagonal scales, rounded and 

 scaly behind; toes scutellate, free, margined; claws rather small, arched, 

 compressed, flat beneath, obtuse. 



Plumage compact all over. Wings short, rounded, third, fourth and 

 fifth quills longest and almost equal; second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth 

 slightly cut out on the outer web. Tail of moderate length, slightly 

 rounded, of twelve broad rounded feathers. 



Bill bright blue above, the fleshy parts at the base bright carmine. Iris 

 very dark brown. Scales of the feet carmine, the interspaces white; claws 

 bluish-grey. The general colour of the plumage above is a rich deep 

 chocolate, slightly tinged with olive, beneath brownish-red, lighter on the 

 middle of the breast, the sides and under tail coverts approaching to the 

 tint of the back. The upper part of the head bright blue, encircled by a 

 band of deep black, broader on the occiput, and very narrow in front; a 

 band of white under the eye meeting its fellow on the chin, a broad patch of 

 black on the fore-neck, margined with white beneath, and on the sides 

 spotted with bright blue. 



Length 12i inches, extent of wings 17^; bill along the ridge \, along the 

 edge 1; tarsus li, middle toe H; weight 10J oz. 



The beautiful Cypress represented in this plate is quite abundant on all 

 the dry Keys of the Floridas, and is also found in many parts of the interior 

 of the peninsula. 



