Bill deep carmine-purple. Iris brown; bare space surrounding the eye light blue. Feet deep carmine-purple. The general colour of the plumage above is light yellowish-brown tinged with grey. Quills brownish-black, narrowly margined with white, seven of the secondaries broadly tipped with the same; the inner ones of the same colour as the back, but having a broad black spot on the inner web towards the end, which is also the case with the tertiaries; several of the coverts also have a black spot on the outer web. The four lateral tail-feathers on each side are greyish-blue, with a broad black bar towards the end, the extremity greyish-white, the four middle feathers of the colour of the back, with a faint dusky bar. The sides of the head and under parts are of a light brownish-red, paler on the throat, and passing into greyish-blue on the sides; under wing-coverts pale bluish-grey. There is a small spot of deep blue immediately behind the eye, and a larger one a little below on the side of the neck; and a band of splendent feathers extends over the back and sides of the neck, having bright purple and greenish reflections.
Length 11½ inches; extent of wings 18⅛; bill along the back 7⁄12, along the edges 11⁄12; tarsus 11⁄12.
Adult Female. Plate CLXII. Fig. 2.
The female can scarcely be distinguished from the male, the colouring being but slightly fainter.
Length 10½ inches.
Purple-flowered Anona.
Porcelia parviflora, Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. vol. ii. p. 383.
This plant is very abundant on many of the outer Keys of the Floridas. It grows among other shrubs, seldom exceeding seven or eight feet in height, and more frequently not more than four or five. The leaves are obovate, rounded at the base, thick, glossy above, downy beneath. The outer petals are larger, and not unlike the divided shell of a hickory or pig nut; the inner ovate, deep purple, with a white band at the base. I did not see the fruit, which I was told is not unpalatable when ripe, it being then about the size of a common walnut, and of a black colour.