Gen. Char. Head very small. Bill short, black; culmen one third the rest of the head; feathers of the chin running very far forward; gonys very short. Tarsi very short, half covered anteriorly by feathers. Inner lateral claw much larger than outer, reaching to the base of the middle one. Tail very long and excessively cuneate; above as long as the wings. First primary longest. Black spots on scapulars; a black and a rufous spot on inner webs of tail-feathers.
This genus is readily distinguished from the other Columbinæ by the excessively lengthened and acute middle feathers. It formerly included the Columba carolinensis, but this, with more propriety, has been erected into a different genus, and will be found in the next section.
17046 ♂ ½ ½
Ectopistes migratoria.
The Ectopistes migratoria is blue above, the male purplish-red beneath, the female brownish-ashy, passing into whitish behind. The wing above and scapulars are spotted with bluish-black, the sides of the neck with metallic gloss of solferino-purple; the inner webs of tail-feathers have each a rufous and a black spot.
Ectopistes migratoria, Swainson.
WILD PIGEON; PASSENGER-PIGEON.
Columba migratoria, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 285.—Gm. I, 389.—Forster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 398.—Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 102, pl. xliv.—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 91.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 319; V, 561, pl. lxii. Ectopistes migratoria, Swainson, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 355.—Ib. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 363.—Bon. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 59.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 194.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 25, pl. cclxxxv.—“Reich. Icones Av. tab. 249, figs. 1377, 1379.”—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 600.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 424.—Lord, Pr. R. A. I. IV, 122 (British Columbia, from coast; nest on ground).—Cooper & Suckley, 218.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 509. Columba canadensis, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 284.—Gm. I, 1788, 785. Female or young. (Prior name ?) Columba americana, “Kalm, It. II, 527.” Passenger Pigeon, Pennant, II, 322.—Lath. Syn. II, II, 661.
Sp. Char. Tail with twelve feathers. Upper parts generally, including sides of body, head, and neck, and the chin, blue. Beneath, purple brownish-red, fading behind into a violet tint. Anal region and under tail-coverts bluish-white. Scapulars, inner tertials, and middle of back with an olive-brown tinge; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and inner tertials with large oval spots of blue-black on the outer webs, mostly concealed, except on the latter. Primaries blackish, with a border of pale bluish tinged internally with red. Middle tail-feather brown; the rest pale blue on the outer web, white internally; each with a patch of reddish-brown at the base of the inner web, followed by another of black. Sides and back of neck richly glossed with metallic golden-violet or reddish-purple. Tibiæ bluish-violet. Bill black. Feet lake-red. The female is smaller, much duller in color, more olivaceous above; beneath, pale ash instead of red, except a tinge on the neck; the jugulum tinged with olive, the throat whitish. Length of male, 17.00; wing, 8.50; tail, 8.40.