22 
THE GROUND DOYE. 
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 passerina, Linu. Syst. Nat., vol. i. p. 28$. 
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, 6§, 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 viuaceous, 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 
showing 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. 
