THE BLUE-HEADED PIGEOX. 
23 
Length 61 inches, extent of wings 11; bill along the back along the 
edge T V ; tarsus T 7 -J. 
Adult Female. 
The female is paler in the tints, the colour above being light brownish- 
grey, the lower parts much lighter, the throat-feathers broadly margined 
with dull white. The forehead and wing-coverts are but slightly tinged 
with red, and the hind neck is less blue than in the male. 
Length, 6J inches. 
Young Bird. 
The young resembles the female. 
The Wild Orange. 
Citrus aurantium, Linn. 
THE BLUE-HEADED PIGEON, OR GROUND DOVE. 
Starnjsnas cyanocephala, Linn. 
PLATE CCLXXXIY. — Hale and Females. 
A few of these birds migrate each spring from the Island of Cuba to the 
Keys of Florida, but are rarely seen, on account of the deep tangled woods 
in which they live. Early in May, 1832, while on a shooting excursion 
with the commander of the United States Revenue Cutter Marion, I saw 
a pair of them on the western side of Key West. They were near the 
water, picking gravel, but on our approaching them they ran back into the 
thickets, which were only a few yards distant. Several fishermen and 
wreckers informed us that they were more abundant on the “ Mule Keys 
but although a large party and myself searched these islands for a whole 
day, not one did we discover there. I saw a pair which I was told had 
been caught when young on the latter Keys, but I could not obtain any 
other information respecting them, than that they were fed on cracked corn 
and rice, which answered the purpose well. 
I have represented three of these Pigeons on the ground, with some of 
