24 
THE BLUE-HEADED PIGEON. 
the creeping plants which grew in the place where I saw the pair mentioned 
above. 
Columba cyanocephala, Linn. Sjst. Nat., vol. i. p. 282 . 
Blue-headed Pigeon, Columba cyanocephala , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 4il. 
Male, 12J, 174. 
Accidental on the southernmost Florida Keys in summer only. 
Adult Male. 
Bill straight, and short, rather slender, compressed; upper mandible with 
a tumid fleshy covering at the base, a convex dedicate obtuse tip, of which 
the margins are acute and overlapping; lower mandible with the angle near 
the extremity, which is compressed and rounded. Nostrils medial, oblique, 
linear. Plead small and compressed; the general form robust, resembling 
that of many Partridges. Legs short and of moderate length; tarsus covered 
anteriorly and laterally with quincuncial sub-hexagonal scales, rounded and 
scaly behind ; toes scutellate, free, margined ; claws rather small, arched, 
compressed, flat beneath, obtuse. 
Plumage compact all over. Wings short, rounded, third, fourth, and 
fifth quills longest and almost equal ; second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth 
slightly cut out on the outer web. Tail of moderate length, slightly 
rounded, of twelve broad rounded feathers. 
Bill bright blue above, the fleshy parts at the base bright carmine. Iris 
very dark brown. Scales of the feet carmine, the interspaces white ; claws 
bluish-grey. The general colour of the plumage above is a rich deep 
chocolate, slightly tinged with olive, beneath brownish-red, lighter on the 
middle of the breast, the sides and under tail coverts approaching to the 
tint of the back. The upper part of the head bright blue, encircled by a 
band of deep black, broader on the occiput, and very narrow in front ; a 
band of white under the eye meeting its fellow on the chin, a broad patch of 
black on the fore-neck, margined with white beneath, and on the sides 
spotted with bright blue. 
Length 124 inches, extent of wings 17i; bill along the ridge i, along the 
edge 1 ; tarsus 1^, middle toe 14 ; weight 104 oz. 
r Phe beautiful Cypress represented in this plate is quite abundant on all 
the dry Keys of the Floridas, and is also found in many parts of the interior 
of the peninsula. 
