606 
U. S. P. E. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
All the quills except the innermost tertials orange brown ; the outer margins and tips dusky brown ; the under coverts orange 
brown ; the axillars strongly tinged with sooty. Tail feathers blackish, tinged with gray above ; all (except the innermost) 
broadly tipped with white ; the exterior with the white extending backwards on the outer web. Iris purple ; bill black ; feet 
flesh color. (Female.) Length, 8 inches ; wing, 3.75 ; tail, 4.10. 
Hab. — South side of valley of Rio Grande, southward. 
I regret that no males of this diminutive dove were before me in describing the species. 
The single female specimen is in rather poor condition also. 
List of specimens. 
Catal 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No. 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
4110 
9 
Cadereita, New Leon, 
Mexico. 
April 18, 1853 
Lt. Couch 
128 
8. 00 
11.00 
3. 75 
Eyes purple, bill 
black, feet flesh. 
CHAMAEPELIA, Swainson. 
Chamaepeha, Swainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 361. Type Columba passerina, L. 
Ch. — Size very small. Bill slender, elongated. Culmen more than half the head measured from frontal feathers. Legs 
stout. Tarsi longer than lateral toes ; equal to the middle without its claw ; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellae . 
Wings broad ; the tertials excessively lengthened ; nearly as long as the primaries ; quite equal to the first primary. Tail 
nearly as long as the wings ; rounded laterally. 
This group embraces the most diminutive doves known to naturalists. A single species is 
found abundantly in the southern United States. 
CHAMAEPELIA PASSEKINA, Swainson. 
Ground Dove. 
Columba passerina, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat I, 1766, 285.— Gmelin, I, 1788, 787.— Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 611.— 
Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 15 ; pi. xlvi.— Wagler, Syst. Av. Columba, No. 88.— Aud. Orn. 
Biog. II, 1834, 471 : V, 1839, 558 ; pi. 182.— Ib. Syn. 192.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 19 ; pi. 
283. 
Columba (Goura) passerina, Bonap. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 181.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 120.— Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 635. 
Chaemcpelia passerina, Swainson, Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 358. 
Chamaepelia passerina, Bonap. List, 1838.— Ib. Conspectus, II, 1854, 77.— Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 311. 
Sp. Ch. — Back, rump, exposed surface of tertials, and tail above, uniform grayish olive ; neck above and occiput tinged with 
bluish ; forehead, sides of head, and neck, under parts generally and lesser upper wing coverts, light purplish red, tinged with 
dusky towards the tail. Feathers of the head, neck, and fore breast, margined with a darker shade of the ground color, the 
forehead and chin, only, nearly uniform . Feathers of the breast dusky brown in the centre, this most conspicuous on the 
jugulum. Under wing coverts, axillars, and quills, brownish orange; the latter margined externally and tipped with dusky 
brown, the tertials almost entirely of this color. Middle tail feathers like the back ; the others mostly black, the outer one 
edged towards the tip with white. The exposed surface of the wing variously marked with blotches exhibiting black, steel 
blue, and violet. Bill and feet yellow ; the former tipped with brown. 
Female with little or none of the purplish red. 
Length, 6.30 ; wing, 3.50 ; tail, 2.80. 
Hab — South Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Lower California. Accidental near Washington, D. C. 
The female of this dove is without the purplish red of the male, this being replaced by pale 
