626 
PIGEON TRIBE. 
This beautiful little species inhabits the Keys of Flor- 
ida with the preceding, but is rare. It is also known to 
exist in the neighbouring island of Cuba. They keep 
much on the ground, where they dust themselves and 
swallow gravel to assist digestion. When rising on the 
wing, the same whistling noise is heard from the motion 
of their wings as in the case of the common Carolina 
Turtle Dove. 
The Zenaida Dove measures only 10 inches. Bill black. Iris dark 
brown. Feet red. Beneath the ears a small bright and deep viola- 
ceous spot ; above this also a smaller one. Anterior cervical region, 
with metallic golden-violet reflections, slightly passing into greenish. 
Scapulars spotted with black. Quills dusky ; the secondaries broad- 
ly terminated with white, 2d primary longest. Tail nearly even, of 
12 feathers. 
f f With the tail long , and cuneiform. 
CAROLINA PIGEON, or TURTLE DOVE. 
( Columba carolinensis , L. Wilson, v. p. 91. pi. 43. fig. 1. Phih 
Museum, No.) 
Sp. Charact. — Forehead and breast vinaceous ; a black spot under 
each ear ; tail of 14 feathers, with 4 of the lateral ones black near 
the extremity, and white at the tip. 
This almost familiar Pigeon, in the course of the spring 
leisurely migrates through the interior as far as to Cana- 
da, though, in the Eastern States, they are very rarely 
met with to the north of Connecticut. Many appear 
sedentary in the warmer states, where they breed as 
far south as Louisiana. They are also said to inhabit 
the Antilles. In the warmer parts of the Union they 
commence laying early in April ; and in South Carolina 
I heard their plaintive coo on the 29th of January ; but 
at the extremity of their range they scarcely begin to 
breed before the middle of May. They lay, as usual, 2 
eggs, of a pure white, and make their nest in the hor- 
izontal branches of trees. It is formed of a mere layer 
