A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3

Specimens from Nicaragua to Texas and Mazatlan do not vary appreciably.

Habits. Our information in regard to the distribution and habits of this species is quite incomplete. It was met with near Cadereita, in the State of New Leon, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch, who procured a specimen April 18, 1853.

It was also found in flocks in company with Chamæpelia rufipennis, near San Pedro and Peten, Honduras, by Leyland. Mr. Salvin met with only a single specimen at Dueñas. On the coast it was more numerous, resembling in its habits the common species of the district, Chamæpelia passerina.

The “Long-tailed Ground Dove” is said by Mr. G. C. Taylor to be very common in Honduras, where it is generally seen in pairs. They were found to be very good eating, but too small to repay their cost where ammunition was so scarce.

It was found breeding near Laredo, Texas, by Dr. H. B. Butcher, July 1, 1866. The nest (S. I. 12,896) is said to have been built in the fork of a small mesquite-tree, and to have contained two eggs. The eggs are similar to those of the Chamæpelia passerina, white, of an oval shape, nearly equally obtuse at either end.

Mr. Xantus found this Dove breeding abundantly at Cape St. Lucas. The maximum number of eggs was invariably two. One nest was found in a leafless acacia about six feet from the ground; another, found May 26, was about five feet high, in a small thorn-bush; a third was at the height of eight feet, and also placed in a bush; others were placed in small oaks, in cacti, in opuntia, and other situations, all above the ground at heights varying from five to eight feet.

The eggs of this Dove are of a white color, are oval in their shape, of about equal size at either end, and measure .91 of an inch in length by .70 in breadth.

Genus CHAMÆPELIA, Swainson

Chamæpelia, Swainson, Zool. Jour. III, 1827, 361. (Type, Columba passerina, L.)

Gen. Char. Size very small. Bill slender, elongated. Culmen more than half the head measured from frontal feathers. Legs stout. Tarsi longer than lateral toes; equal to the middle without its claw; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellæ. Wings broad; the tertials excessively lengthened, nearly as long as the primaries, quite equal to the first primary. Tail nearly as long as the wings; rounded laterally.

12535 ♂ ½ ½

Chamæpelia passerina.

This group embraces the most diminutive Doves known to naturalists. A single species is found abundantly in the southern United States; another is found in northern South America. They may be distinguished as follows:—

C. passerina. Feathers of jugulum with a dusky central spot; occiput and nape squamated with dusky. Hab. Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, whole of Mexico (including Lower California), Central America, New Granada, Venezuela, and West Indies.

C. griseola. 110 No central dusky spot to feathers of jugulum, and no scale-like markings on occiput or nape. Hab. Brazil and New Granada.

Chamæpelia passerina, SwainsonGROUND DOVE

Columba passerina, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 285.—Latham, Ind. Orn. II, 1790, 611.—Wilson, Am. Orn. IV, 1811, 15, pl. xlvi.—Wagler, Syst. Av. Columba, No. 88.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 471; V, 1839, 558, pl. clxxxii.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 19, pl. cclxxxiii.—Sund. Ofv. 1869, 586 (St. Bartholemy.) Columba (Goura) passerina, Bonap. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 181.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 635. Chæmepelia passerina, Swainson, Zool. Jour. III, 1827, 358. Chamæpelia passerina, Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Conspectus, II, 1854, 77.—Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 1847, 311.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 606.—Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 391 (Oaxaca); 1857, 205 (Xalapa); Ibis, I, 223 (Guatemala); P. Z. S. 1864, 178 (City of Mexico).—Cab. J. IV, III (Cuba).—Bryant, B. Pr. 1866 (Porto Rico).—Lawr. Ann. Lyc. IX, 134 (Costa Rica), 207 (Yucatan).—March, P. A. N. S. 1863, 302 (Jamaica).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 516. Pyrgitænas passerinus, Reichenb. Handb. Taub. 13 (1861 ?), tab. 266, f. 2875–78; tab. 256, f. 1419, 1420. Chamæpelia granatina, Bonap. Consp. II, 77 (Bogota). Chamæpelia albivitta, Bonap. Consp. II, 77 (Carthagena). Chamæpelia var. pallescens, Baird, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1859 (Cape St. Lucas).—Cooper Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 517.

Sp. Char. Back, rump, exposed surface of tertials, and tail above, uniform grayish-olive; neck above and occiput tinged with bluish; forehead, sides of head, and neck, under parts generally, and lesser upper wing-coverts, light purplish-red, tinged with dusky towards the tail. Feathers of the head, neck, and fore-breast, margined with a darker shade of the ground-color; the forehead and chin, only, nearly uniform. Feathers of the breast dusky-brown in the centre, this most conspicuous on the jugulum. Under wing-coverts, axillars, and quills, brownish-orange; the latter margined externally and tipped with dusky-brown, the tertials almost entirely of this color. Middle tail-feathers like the back; the others mostly black, the outer one edged towards the tip with white. The exposed surface of the wing variously marked with blotches exhibiting black, steel-blue, and violet. Bill and feet yellow; the former tipped with brown. Female with little or none of the purplish-red. Young duller than the adult female, the feathers of upper parts with a narrow terminal bar of white. Length, 6.30; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.80.

Chamæpelia passerina.

Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf coasts; very rarely as far north as Washington. Southern and Lower California; whole of Middle America, to New Granada and Venezuela; West Indies.

Specimens vary considerably in the depth of the vinaceous tints, but the variation is nearly as much with the individual as with the locality. As a rule, Florida and West India skins are most deeply colored, those from Mexico (particularly from Cape St. Lucas and Orizaba) being much paler in all the tints (var. pallescens, Baird); but specimens from Guatemala and Costa Rica are undistinguishable from the average of the Florida series. Specimens from New Granada (labelled C. granatina, Bonap.), Venezuela (labelled C. albivitta), and the Amazons, are more like Cape St. Lucas specimens, differing from them only in slightly smaller size, the colors being the same in the minutest particulars, except that the crissum is perhaps more whitish, the dusky centres of the feathers being more concealed. These generalizations are based on fifty-six specimens in the Smithsonian Museum.

Habits. According to Mr. Audubon, this Dove is found from the lower parts of Louisiana to Cape Hatteras, following the coast quite round Florida, but is seen very seldom to any distance in the interior. He met with none in the State of Mississippi. They were more abundant among the sea-islands of Georgia and the middle portions of the coast of East Florida than anywhere else.

This bird has also been taken at Monterey, California, by W. Hutton, and a single accidental specimen has been obtained near Washington, D. C.

Specimens were obtained near Matamoras, in Tamaulipas, by Dr. Berlandier, and subsequently by Lieutenant Couch, who generally found them in the forests or open fields at a distance from dwellings. They were observed to fly low, and only for short distances, and to spend most of their time on the ground.

In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, the Ground Dove sometimes perches, and always roosts, on low trees; but is otherwise generally found in pairs, feeding on the ground on small grain and seeds. Several pairs may be seen feeding together, but they do not associate. It is said to be very tame, and to be found about homesteads and in streets and roads. It also breeds in low trees, the cashew and the dogwood seeming to be preferred. It is very rarely kept as a cage-bird, as its note is a plaintive mournful coo, and there is a Creole superstition that misfortune will happen to any one so treating it. The nest is slightly made of twigs, lined with grass, and built in a fork or hollow. The eggs are two, of a rounded oval, white, .87 of an inch by .69.

According to Mr. Salvin, this Dove is one of the most familiar birds of the central region of Guatemala, where it is the only small Ground Dove found. In the coast region its place was supplied by at least two other species. It is abundant at Dueñas, residing all the year, and breeding in the cochineal plantations, where it deposits its eggs, two in number, on the ground under the rows of “nopal.” It is called Tortolita by the inhabitants. He found its nests both on the ground and elevated a few feet above it.

Mr. Dresser found these birds common near Matamoras, and generally noticed them on the road between Matamoras and Brownsville, as well as on a sand-plain close to Fort Brown, on the Texan side of the river. In the interior of Texas he did not meet with any, except once, in April, on the Medina near San Antonio.

Mr. Audubon describes the flight of this Dove as low, easy, and accompanied by a whistling sound, produced by the action of the wings when the bird is surprised and forced to fly. it is less protracted than that of most other species, and seldom extends more than a hundred yards at a time. It seems much attached to its chosen locality, and almost immediately returns to it after having been driven away. While it alights on trees and moves with ease among the branches, and mostly nests in low trees or bushes, the ground is its usual place of resort, where it runs with facility, and in moving always keeps its tail considerably elevated. It appeared to be fond of alighting on fences, where it can be heard cooing for half an hour at a time.

These Pigeons are met with in groups of four or five, and seldom more than ten or twelve are seen together. They appear to prefer the thinly grassed sandy portions of cotton-fields, pea-patches, and similar places. In East Florida they may even be seen in the villages, resorting to the orange-groves and breeding in them. At St. Augustine they are often found within the inner court of the old Spanish fort, rising almost perpendicularly in order to escape above the parapets. They are easily caught, and readily become domesticated. A pair taken when their young were quite small, and placed in an aviary, continued to nourish them until full-grown, and afterwards raised a second brood from the same nest. They were fed on rice and other small grain.

The nest of this species is described as compact, and as large for the size of the bird. It is composed of dry twigs externally, and within is made of dry grasses disposed in a circular form. This is usually built in hedges or low bushes, and among the branches of orange-trees. The eggs are two, pure white, and with one end usually much more obtuse than the other. They are two in number, but, as Mr. Audubon states, occasionally the nest contains three. Two broods are raised in a season.

In the vicinity of Charleston these birds were observed to remain all the year, though the greater proportion retired south or to the sea-islands.

In the Florida Keys Mr. Audubon met with them among the islands resorted to by the Zenaida Doves, and also on Sandy Island, near Cape Sable. In the latter place they were so gentle that he approached to within two yards of them. Their nest was on the top of a cactus, not more than two feet from the ground.

Their food, in a wild state, consists of grass-seeds and various small berries, with which they swallow a large proportion of gravel to assist digestion. They are extremely fond of dusting themselves in the sand, lying down in it in the manner of various gallinaceous birds.

The eggs of this species are of a uniform bright white color, are slightly more pointed at one end than at the other, and measure .85 of an inch in length by .63 in breadth.

This species was found in abundance at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. Xantus. They were nesting from April 15 until August 29, and evidently had two or more broods in a season. Their nests were usually placed in low cactuses, near the ground, or in small shrubs. Their nests, eggs, and general habits, so far as we can gather them from the meagre notes of Mr. Xantus, are in no wise different from those of the more eastern birds.

PLATE LVIII.

1. Oreopeleia martinica. ♂ Jamaica.

2. Zenaidura carolinensis. ♂ N. C., 55569.

3. Zenaida amabilis. ♂ Jamaica, 24406.

4. Melopeleia leucoptera. ♂ Mazatlan, 34009.

5. Starnoæna cyanocephalus. ♂ Jamaica, ? 12541.

6. Chamæpelia passerina. ♂ 28281.

7. Scardafella inca. ♂ Texas, 45465.

Genus OREOPELEIA, Reichenbach

Oreopeleia, Reichenbach, Handbuch der speciellen Ornithol. I, i, 1851, page xxiv. (Type, Columba martinica, L.)

Gen. Char. Bill lengthened, slender; culmen half the rest of the head from the frontal feathers. Feet large, stout; tarsi longer than the middle toe and claw, covered anteriorly by transverse scutellæ. Inner lateral claw longer than outer; reaching beyond the base of the middle one, the outer falling short of it. Hind toe and claw more than half the middle. Quills and tail-feathers very broad; the wings rounded; second and third quills longest, the first intermediate between the fourth and fifth. Tail suborbicular, the shafts convex outwardly; the feathers rounded, and a little graduated.

Of this genus, which is peculiar to America, two well-marked species, may be distinguished.

O. martinica. Above chestnut-rufous, the crown and nape with purplish-green, the lower part of nape with golden-green, the back with violet, the other upper parts with bright purplish-red reflections; beneath pinkish-white, more purplish on the jugulum. A distinctly marked light stripe on the cheek, bordered below by one of purplish-red. Length, 10.70; wing, 6.20; tail, 5.75. Hab. Key West, Florida (?) Cuba, and Martinique.

O. montana. 111 Above deep orange-rufous, without bright reflections, but with an opaque gloss of reddish-purple on the back and nape. Beneath ochraceous, inclining to vinaceous on the jugulum. Cheeks without distinct whitish bar bordered below by reddish. Wing, 5.70. Hab. Atlantic region of Middle America from Xalapa to Brazil; West Indies.

Oreopeleia martinica, ReichKEY WEST PIGEON

Columba martinica, Gmelin, I, 1788, 781 (not of Temminck). Geotrygon martinica, Bonap. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 74.—Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 108. Oreopeleia martinicana, Reich. Syst. Av. 1851, page xxv.—Ib. “Icones Avium, tab. 257, fig. 1431.” Columba montana, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 382, pl. clxvii.—Ib. Syn. 1839, 191.—Ib. Birds Am. V, 1842, 14, pl. cclxxxii.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 756 (not of Linnæus). Zenaida montana, Bonap. Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. “Columbigallina montana, Temminck.” “Columba mystacea, Lembeye,” Bonap. (not of Temminck). Oreopeleia martinica, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 607.—Cab. J. IV, 109 (Cuba).—Gundl. Repert. Cub. I, 1866, 299 (Cuba).—Reich. Handb. Taub. 31, tab. 257, fig. 1432.

Sp. Char. Ground-color of the upper parts, including wing (both surfaces), and tail-feathers, chestnut-rufous; the upper part of head and neck with metallic reflections of green and purple; the back, rump, and wing-coverts, with reflections of metallic light-purplish or violet. There is a white band from the lower mandible along side of the head, bordered below by purplish-red, like the forehead, and a similar band through the eyes, which are without metallic lustre. The breast is very light purplish-red, fading to white towards the tail and chin. The feathers of the under tail-coverts are dusky-brown at the base. Length, 10.70; wing, 6.00; tail, 5.75.

Hab. Key West, Florida; Cuba and Martinique, perhaps elsewhere in the West Indies.

41876 ♂ ½ ½

Oreopeleia martinica.

Habits. The Key West Pigeon is found within the fauna of the United States only in the extreme southern portion of Florida, and, so far as known, only on the island of Key West, where Mr. Audubon met with them, and enjoyed a limited opportunity of observing their habits. He describes the flight as low, swift, and protracted, as he saw them passing from Cuba to Key West. They moved in loose flocks of from five or six to a dozen, and so very low as to almost seem to touch the surface. They were fond of going out early in the morning from their thickets to cleanse their plumage in the shelly sand, but on the least approach of danger would fly back to the thickest part of the woods, throw themselves on the ground, and run off with great rapidity. Their movements of the tail and neck are similar to those of the Carolina Dove. Their coo is said to be neither so soft nor so prolonged as that of the common Dove, and may be represented by the syllable whoe-whoe-oh-oh-oh. When suddenly approached, they utter a guttural gasping sound. They are said to alight on the lower branches of shrubby trees, and to delight in the neighborhood of shady ponds, always inhabiting by preference the darkest solitudes. Whatever may have been their abundance on Key West, in Mr. Audubon’s time, it is certain that they are very rare there now, as I am not aware of their having been taken of late years by any of the numerous collectors who have visited South Florida since Mr. Audubon’s time.

Oreopeleia martinica.

The nest is described as formed of light dry twigs, in shape much resembling that of the Carolina Dove. Occasionally it is placed on the ground, and is then less elaborate. Some are placed on large branches near the ground, while others are built among slender twigs.

Towards the middle of July, according to Mr. Audubon, they become so abundant that sportsmen are able to shoot a score or more in a day. They feed on berries and the seeds of various plants, and are especially fond of the fruit of the sea-grape.

Genus STARNŒNAS, Bonaparte

Starnœnas, Bonaparte, Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Columba cyanocephala, L.)

Gen. Char. Bill short; culmen about one third the rest of head, measured from the frontal feathers. Legs very stout and large; tarsus bare on the entire tibial joint, and covered with hexagonal scales, largest anteriorly, longer than the middle toe and claw. Inner lateral claw the larger, reaching the base of the middle claw; all the claws short, thick, and blunt. Hind toe and claw short; half the middle. Wings short, broad, and concave; much rounded. Tail short, broad, nearly even, but slightly vaulted.

The single species of Dove composing the genus in many respects resembles the Partridges or Quails, both in external appearance and in manners.

Starnœnas cyanocephala, BonBLUE-HEADED PIGEON

Columba cyanocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 282.—Gmelin, Syst. I, 1788, 778.—Wagler, Syst. Avium, 1827, Columba, No. 112.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 441; V. 1839, 557, pl. clxxii. Starnœnas cyanocephala, Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. II, 1854, 69.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 193.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 23, pl. cclxxxiv.—Gundlach, Cab. Journ. IV, 1856, 108.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 608.—Cab. J. IV, 108 (Cuba).—Gundl. Repert. Cub. I, 1866, 299.—Reichenb. Handb. Taub. 30, tab. 257, f. 1431; 266, f. 2879–81. Starnœnas cyanocephala, Reichenbach, Systema Av. 1851, p. xxv, pl. xxiii.—Ib. Icones Av. tab. 260 and 266. Geophilus? cyanocephala, Selby, Pigeons, Jard. Nat. Lib. V, 216, pl. xxvii. Columba (Lophyrus) cyanocephala, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d. ed.,) 1840, 769. Columba tetraoides, (Scopoli,) Gmelin, I, 772. Blue-headed Turtle, Latham, Syn. II, II, 651.

Sp. Char. Bill blue, the fleshy part at the base carmine. Iris brown, scales of feet carmine, the interspaces white. Above and on sides glossy dark chocolate-olivaceous; beneath brownish-red, lighter centrally. Chin and throat black, with a narrow border of white below. A white line begins in the chin, and passes under the eye to the occiput. Sides of head above this and forehead black; crown blue. Length, 10.70; wing, 5.40; tail, 4.35.

Hab. West India Islands; according to Audubon found occasionally at Key West, Florida, and other southern keys.

2827 ♂ ½ ½

Starnœnas cyanocephala.

The axillars and under surface of the wings are like the belly. The crissum is most like the back. The outer tail-feathers have a bluish tinge above.

The hind toe in this species is not strictly in the same plane with the others, but placed a little above their point of insertion.

Habits. This handsome Pigeon belongs to the fauna of the West India Islands, and is only an occasional visitant of Key West and other southern keys of Florida. They are a common species in Cuba, from which island a few are stated by Mr. Audubon to migrate each year to certain of the keys of Florida, where, however, they are rarely seen on account of their living only in the most tangled thickets. Mr. Audubon saw a pair on the western side of Key West. They were near the water picking gravel, but they would not suffer a near approach. He saw a pair, also, that had been taken, when young, on “Mule Keys.” These fed well on cracked corn and rice, but he was unable to obtain any further information in respect to them.

Though abundant in Cuba this species does not appear to have been found in Jamaica, except as an imported bird from the former island, contrary to the assertions of various writers, as Temminck, Brisson, and others. Mr. Gosse was not able to trace its presence, though its existence among the precipitous woods on the north side of that island he regards as quite possible.

Starnœnas cyanocephala.

Like Oreopeleia martinica and Zenaida amabilis, this species, though described by Audubon as not being rare on the keys of South Florida, has not been met with in that State by later explorers.

An egg of this species laid in confinement in the aviary of Dr. Bachman, in Charleston, S. C., is of a rounded-oval shape, and of a uniform creamy-white color; it measures 1.43 inches in length by 1.10 in breadth.

Family CRACIDÆ.—The Curassows

Char. Body large, but rather slender; bill more or less arched; tail lengthened; legs long, robust, without any spur. Toes moderate, slender, the hinder scarcely elevated. Naked spaces frequently occurring on the head and throat.

Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, in their masterly and model monograph of Cracidæ (Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1870, 504), define the subfamilies as follows:—

A. Post-acetabular area narrow; upper mandible higher than broad; culmen compressed … I. Cracinæ.

B. Post-acetabular area broad; upper mandible broader than high; culmen depressed.

Top of head covered with feathers; space between the nostrils naked; nostrils exposed … II. Penelopinæ.

Top of head with a bony tubercle; internasal space densely feathered; nostrils concealed … III. Oreophasinæ.

By the term “post-acetabular area” is understood that portion of the dorsal aspect of the pelvis which is bounded in front by a line drawn through the acetabula.

The Cracinæ, or Curassows, are found in Mexico, in Central and in South America; the Oreophasinæ are represented by a single species, Oreophasis derbianus, a bird nearly as large as a Turkey, occurring in the wooded region of the Volcan de Fuego, Guatemala, at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Of the Penelopinæ one species only is found in the United States.