BIRDS COLUMBIDAE — ZENAIDURA. 
603 
MELOPELIA LEUCOPTERA, Bonap. 
White-winged Dove. 
Columba leucoptera, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 17GG, 281. (Not the locality— Asia . )— Gm . Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 773.— 
Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, Columba, No. 71.— M 'Call, Pr. A. N. Sc. IV, 1848, 64. 
Zenaida leucoptera, Gray, Gen. 
Turlur leucopterus, Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 304. 
Melopelia leucoptera, Bonap. Consp . Av. II, 1854, 81. 
? Columba hoilotl, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 777. 
•• Columba trudeaui, Avd. Birds Amer. VII, 1843, 352 ; pi. 496. 
Sp. Ch. — Tail moderately graduated on the sides. Second and third quills longest ; first a little shorter ; fourth considerably 
shorter. In the female the upper parts generally are light olive brown ; the head and neck above purplish, with a black spot 
below the ear ; the lower part of the neck with scale feathers of metallic golden green. Forehead and under parts light bluish 
gray ; more blue on the sides. Tail feathers, except the middle, bluish above, black beneath, broadly terminated with white ; 
the upper surface with a bar of black in the end of the blue. Quills (except inner tertials) black, margined or tipped with 
white; a broad white patch along the exterior of the greater wing coverts and alular feathers. Bill black ; bill pinkish purple. 
Iris purple. Length, (female,) 11 inches ; wing, 6.00 ; tail, 4.75. 
Hab. — Valley of Rio Grande, southward. California, Dr. Cooper. "West Indies. 
The preceding description is that of a female, no male being accessible to me. The differences 
between the sexes are probably much like those in Ectopistes, the blue of the breast and under 
parts of the female, doubtless purplish cinnamon in the male. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Be.marks. 
4107 
9 
Tamaulipas 
'Mar, — , 1853 
Lieut. Couch 
11. 00 
18.25 
6. 00 
Eyes purple, bill black, 
feet pinkish purple. 
ZENAIDURA, Bonap. 
Zenaidura, Bonap. Consp. Avium, II, 1854, 84. Type Columba carolinensis, L. Probably named previously in 
Comptes Rendus. 
Perissura, Cab. Jour, fur Orn. IV, 1856, 111. 
Ch. — Bill weak, black ; culmen from frontal feathers, about one-third the head above. Tarsus not quite as long as middle 
too and claw, but considerably longer than the lateral ones ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutallae. Inner lateral 
claw considerably longer than outer, and reaching to the base of middle. Wings pointed ; second quill longest ; first and third 
nearly equal. Tail very long, equal to the wings ; excessively graduated and cuneate, of fourteen feathers. 
The fourteen tail feathers render this genus very conspicuous among the North American 
doves. It was formerly placed with the Passenger Pigeon in Ectopistes, but has nothing in 
common with it but the lengthened tail, as it belongs to a different sub-family. 
