BLUE-HEADED GROUND PIGEON. 
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wings, which are short, concave, and rounded, indi- 
cate but a weak and inferior power of flight. This 
bird is a native of the southern islands of America, 
and is plentiful in Cuba and Jamaica, in which lat- 
ter island it has obtained from its gallinaceous habits 
the name of partridge. It lives entirely upon the 
ground, where it runs with great rapidity, like the 
above-named bird, the neck being drawn in, and the 
back forming a curve, by the pendant manner in 
which it carries its tail. It nidificates upon the 
ground, and lays several eggs, and the young when 
hatched soon learn to follow the parent. It has a 
deep murmuring note, which is not often heard, the 
bird being of a retired and solitary disposition. 
In size it nearly equals our common partridge, be- 
ing about eleven inches in length. The bill is red- 
dish at the base, the tip grey. The tarsi and feet 
are red, the former, as we have previously observed, 
are covered with hexagonal scales. The head and 
chin are of a fine azure-grey blue. The throat, fore 
neck, and upper brea.st are black ; the lower tier of 
feathers upon the last named part are tipped with 
white, and form a bar of that colour across the 
breast. From each corner of the mouth a band of 
pure white passes beneath the eyes and meets be- 
hind the head below a black occipital bar of a 
curved or horse-shoe form. The rest of the plu- 
mage, both upper and under, is of a deep bistre 
brown, tinged with vinaceous or purplish-red. 
The next species that claims our attention is — 
