Genus ZENAIDURA, Bonap.
- Zenaidura, Bonap. Consp. Avium, II, 1854, 84. (Type, Columba carolinensis, L.)
- Perissura, Cab. Jour. für Orn. IV, 1856, 111. (Same type.)
Gen. Char. Bill weak, black; culmen from frontal feathers about one third the head above. Tarsus not quite as long as middle toe and claw, but considerably longer than the lateral ones; covered anteriorly by a single series of scutellæ. Inner lateral claw considerably longer than outer, and reaching to the base of middle. Wings pointed; second quill longest; first and third nearly equal. Tail very long, equal to the wings; excessively graduated and cuneate, of fourteen feathers.
The fourteen tail-feathers render this genus very conspicuous among the North American doves. It was formerly placed with the Passenger-Pigeon in Ectopistes, but has nothing in common with it but the lengthened tail, as it belongs to a different subfamily. At present three species are known, two of them recently described. Unless Z. yucatanensis proves to be a hybrid between Zenaida amabilis and Zenaidura carolinensis, it may be expedient to merge Zenaida and Zenaidura into one, since, if yucatanensis
prove to be a permanent form, the additional pair of tail-feathers is all that is left to characterize Zenaidura; and when we consider that the wedge-tailed Haliætus pelagicus has fourteen tail-feathers, while the round-tailed species have only twelve, it seems reasonable to consider the difference as merely specific in this case also.
1180 ♂ ⅔ ⅔
Zenaidura carolinensis.
A. Secondaries broadly tipped with white.
Z. yucatanensis.[107] Beneath entirely deep purplish-vinaceous. Wing, 6.00; tail, 4.90; culmen, .58; tarsus, .85; middle toe, .90. Hab. Yucatan.