470 
ZENAIDA DOVE. 
well known to breed on the Florida keys, whither probably 
almost all the West Indian species occasionally resort. 
ZENAIDA DOVE COLUMBA ZENAIDA— Plate XVII. Fig. 2. 
Columba zenaida, Noh. Add. Orn. U. S. in Journ. Acad. Phil. Id. Cat. Birds 
U. S. sp. 198, in Contr. Mad. Lrjc. Ph. i. p. 22. Id. Syn. Birds U. S. sp. 
198, in Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N. Y. ii. p. 119. Id. Suppl. in Zool. Journ, 
Land. V. p. 6. My Collection. 
COL IJMBA ? Bonaparte. 
The name of dove is not commonly used to designate a 
systematic group, but is employed for all the small pigeons 
indiscriminately, whilst the larger doves are known as pigeons. 
Even this distinction of size, however, does not seem to be 
agreed upon, as we find authors calling the larger species 
doves, and the smaller ones pigeons, and sometimes even ap- 
plying both appellations to different sexes or ages of the same 
species, as in the case of the common American pigeon, Co- 
lumba migratoria. This extensive family of birds, so remark- 
able for richness and splendour of colours — so important as con- 
tributing largely to supply the wants of mankind — so interest- 
ing as forming so perfect a link between the two great divi- 
sions of the feathered tribes — has been divided, on more phi- 
losophical principles, into three groups, which some natural- 
ists consider as genera, and others as subgenera, or sections. 
Of these, two only are found represented in America; the 
third, a very natural group, being confined to Africa and the 
large eastern islands of the old world. That to which the 
present bird, and all the North American species but one, 
belong, is the most typical of all, being characterised by a 
straight and slender bill, both mandibles of which are soft and 
flexible, and the upper turgid towards the end ; by their short 
tarsi, divided toes, and long, acute wings, wdth the first pri- 
mary somewhat shorter than the second, which is the longest. 
This group (the true pigeons and doves) is, however, so nu- 
