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

In Kansas and in Colorado they were frequently found by Mr. Allen, and in the latter region also by Messrs. Aiken and Holden. On the Plains, in the absence of any trees in which to build, they were in the habit of constructing their nests on the ground, in some instances depositing their eggs in a mere depression in the sand, with hardly any pretence for a nest.

This bird was obtained in Tamaulipas, Mexico, by Lieutenant Couch; at Ringgold Barracks, Texas, by Mr. J. H. Clark; near San Elizario, by Dr. Kennerly; and on the Colorado, by Mr. Schott. Mr. Clark found the vicinity of Ringgold Barracks a great resort for many birds of this family for the purpose of nesting; the luxuriant development of the Opuntia, and other vegetation equally impassable, affording the means of defence. Hundreds of at least half a dozen species were to be seen every evening on the banks of the river after water. Lieutenant Couch found it in great numbers from the Rio Grande to beyond the Sierra Madre, generally near the ranches, though often in the forests. It seemed inclined to court the society of man for protection and food. It was also very abundant, according to Dr. Kennerly, in the vicinity of San Elizario, banding in large flocks, and feeding in the wheat and corn fields. It was also observed as far west as Santa Cruz, in Sonora.

Dr. Newberry met with this Dove in all parts of California and Oregon visited by him. Dr. Suckley mentions it as very abundant throughout Washington Territory and Oregon. At Fort Steilacoom it arrives and departs at about the same time as the Columba fasciata. Dr. Cooper states it to be common about prairies and farms of the interior, and probably some remain all winter in the Territory, though they rarely appear at any time near the coast border.

Dr. Kennerly found this species about Bill Williams Fork, in New Mexico, and also in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas, and along the Gulf coast; but travelling west about two hundred miles from the former place, they seemed suddenly to disappear.

According to Mr. Salvin, this Dove was very abundant about Dueñas, inhabiting only the open districts. It congregated in flocks, and was resident. Mr. G. C. Taylor frequently met with it in Honduras, where they were generally seen in small flocks of from six to ten.

Dr. Woodhouse mentions that the mournful notes of these birds were to be heard continually throughout the Indian Territory and the greater part of Texas and New Mexico, in all of which countries it breeds.

Mr. Dresser found this Dove a familiar resident in every part of Texas and Mexico that he visited. He saw many of their nests, all slightly built of sticks placed on the branch of a mesquite tree or bush, containing two pure-white eggs. In two instances the nests were on the ground. He met with one nest with fresh eggs as late as September 7.

These birds are migratory in the Northern States, and partially so in the Middle States, their movements being irregular, and evidently dependent upon the abundance of their food. In North and South Carolina, and in other parts of the country south of Pennsylvania, they collect together in the winter months in considerable numbers. Wilson states that on the 2d of February he saw a flock of many hundreds of these birds near Newbern, N. C.; and near the Savannah River, in Georgia, the woods were swarming with them. They return to the North in March or early in April, and disperse very generally over the country in pairs, rarely more than two or three of these being seen together. They are then occasionally to be seen in roads, dusting themselves or procuring gravel. Where not molested, they often visit the farm-yards, and even occasionally feed with the poultry, take water from the drinking-places of the cattle, and become partially domesticated.

When their breeding-season is over, usually early in August, they again collect in small flocks, which unite in larger collections when they move southward in their migrations.

Their flight is rapid, vigorous, and strong, and the flapping of their wings is accompanied by a peculiar whistling sound. They can fly with great swiftness, can readily alight on trees, and move with facility among the branches.

Their love-notes, which commence in the early spring, are celebrated for their peculiarly sad and touching plaintiveness of sound, though the birds themselves exhibit in their appearance and manners at this time anything but an appearance of grief or mourning, being exceedingly lively and sportive in their endearments. These notes are repeated almost continually, in a succession of four or five notes sounding like ah-coo-roo-coo or ah-cōō-rōō-cōō-rōō.

This Pigeon feeds on seeds, grain, buckwheat, Indian corn, the berries of various shrubs and plants, and the smaller acorns of the live-oak and other oaks. They are also accused of visiting the gardens and consuming peas. They swallow great quantities of gravel.

In Pennsylvania they are said to nest as early as the first of May. They probably have more than one brood in a season, as the nests found at Carlisle about the middle of June were found to contain perfectly fresh eggs. Their nest is a rudely constructed fabric of small twigs laid together in an inartistic manner, and lined with a few finer stems and rootlets, and is placed on the horizontal branch of a tree, in a vine or evergreen, or even on the ground. The last was the general position of their nests on the Plains, and occasionally is noticed at the East. Wilson found nests thus placed in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Dr. Coues mentions this bird as an abundant summer resident in Arizona, where it arrives the last week in April and remains into October. The presence of this bird on the dry sandy wastes of that Territory always proved a sure indication of the presence of water, the nature of its food, consisting ordinarily of dry hard seeds, rendering an abundant supply of water necessary to its existence.

Mr. Audubon states that these birds breed in Louisiana in April, and sometimes as early as March, and have there two broods. They roost at night on the ground, among the long grasses found growing in abandoned fields; and occasionally they resort to the dead foliage of trees, and to various kinds of evergreens. Their flesh is said to be remarkably fine, tender and juicy, especially when the birds are fat, and by some is regarded as superior to that of either the Snipe or the Woodcock.

This Dove can easily be induced to breed in aviaries, even though caught when old, and will have several broods in a season.

In Southern Illinois they have been observed by Mr. Ridgway to breed in various situations, either on the ground in grain-fields, on the tops of stumps, or the top of a rail fence, as well as in trees and bushes. They nest from the beginning of April to the middle of September. They were also remarkably abundant along the line of the 40th parallel, according to Mr. Ridgway, even in the most desert tracts.

The eggs of this species measure 1.15 inches in length by .86 in breadth; they are of an oblong-oval shape, white in color, and nearly equal at either extremity.

Genus SCARDAFELLA, Bonap

Scardafella, Bon. Conspectus, II, 1854, 85. (Type, Columba squamosa, Temm.)

33658 ½ ½

Scardafella inca.

Gen. Char. Bill lengthened; culmen more than half the length of the head measured from frontal feathers. Feet as in Chamæpelia. Wing with the tertials nearly as long as the primaries; shorter, however, than the first primary. Tail considerably longer than the wing, of twelve feathers, of peculiar shape; the ten middle feathers nearly even, or very slightly decreasing toward the sides, but the intermediæ considerably shorter, while the lateral pair are much the shortest; the feathers are narrow, especially toward the end, but the tip is obtuse.

Two species are known; one North American, the other confined to South America.

Species and Varieties

Common Characters. Brownish-gray above, paler, and with a vinaceous cast anteriorly, beneath. Each feather with a terminal dusky crescentic bar, producing a squamate appearance; inner webs of quills chestnut; axillars black; about terminal half of three outer tail-feathers white.

S. squamosa. 109 A white patch on the wing-coverts and secondaries; abdomen and crissum white. Black crescentic bars very heavy. Wing, 3.90; tail, 4.10. Hab. Brazil, Ecuador.

S. inca. No white patch on wings; abdomen and crissum pale ochraceous. Black bars very faint on breast, obsolete on throat. Wing, 3.75; tail, 4.40. Hab. Mexico and Guatemala; Rio Grande of Texas.

Scardafella inca, BonapSCALY DOVE

Scardafella inca, (Bonap.) Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 391.—Reichenb. Handb. 19, tab. 250, f. 1393; tab. 253, f. 1410.—Elliot, Illust. II, pl. xxxvii.—Coop. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 519. Scardafella squamosa (“Temm.”) Wagl. Isis, 1831, 519 (not of Temminck!).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 605.

Sp. Char. Above ashy-brown, becoming purer and lighter ashy on the wings. Beneath pale ashy-lilaceous, with a pinkish tinge anteriorly, becoming pale ochraceous on the abdomen, tibiæ, and crissum. Outer webs and ends of primaries, and tail-feathers (except the intermediæ), dusky. Every feather (except rectrices and primaries) terminated with a crescentic bar of dusky; these bars heaviest on the mantle, upper tail-coverts, and on the sides and flanks, faintest on the jugulum, obsolete on throat. Primaries and lining of wing mostly deep chestnut; axillars black; lateral tail-feather with the terminal half white, on both webs; second and third feathers with a gradually decreasing amount of white. Sexes similar. Young similar, but feathers faintly mottled, and markings less sharply defined. Wing, 3.75; tail, 4.40; culmen, .47; tarsus, .57; middle toe, .58. Female a little smaller.

Hab. Rio Grande Valley, south to Guatemala. Arizona (Tucson, Bendire); Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 391, eggs); Cordova (1856, 309); Guatemala (Ibis I, 223); Honduras (Taylor, Ibis, II, 227); City of Mexico (Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, 178.)

Scardafella inca.

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.