A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

B. Secondaries not tipped with white.

Z. carolinensis. Beneath light purplish-vinaceous anteriorly; crissum nearly white. Wing, 5.90; tail, 6.00; culmen, .50; tarsus, .86; middle toe, .82. Hab. Whole of North America, south to Panama; West Indies.

Z. graysoni.[¹⁰⁸] Beneath entirely uniform deep reddish-cinnamon. Wing, 6.00; tail, 5.15; culmen, .84; tarsus, 1.08; middle toe, .97. Hab. Socorro Island, western coast of Mexico.

Zenaidura carolinensis, Bonap.
CAROLINA OR COMMON DOVE.

Columba carolinensis, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 286, No. 37.—Latham, Ind. II, 1790, 613.—Wilson, Am. Orn. V, 1812, 91, pl. xliii.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 91; V, 1839, 555, pl. xvii.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 626. Turtur carolinensis, Brisson, I, 110, pl. viii. Ectopistes carolinensis, Rich. List, 1837.—Bon. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 36, pl. cclxxxvi. Zenaidura carolinensis, Bonap. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 84 (type).—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 604.—Reichenb. Handb. Taub. 19, tab. 249, f. 1380–82.—Coop. & Suckl. 218.—Coop. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 512. Perissura carolinensis, Cab. Cab. Jour. 1856, 111, 112 (type). Columba marginata, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 286, No. 40 (best description).—Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 91.—Ib. Isis, 1831, 519. Ectopistes marginata, Gray, List, Br. Mus. ? Ectopistes marginellus, Woodhouse, Pr. A. N. Sc. VI, June, 1852, 104.—Ib. Expl. Zuñi & Color. 1853, 93; Birds, pl. v (Canadian river, Ark. Immature bird). ? Zenaidura marginalla, Bonap. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 85.

Sp. Char. Tail-feathers fourteen. Above bluish, although this is overlaid with light brownish-olive, leaving the blue pure only on the top of the head, the exterior of the wings, and the upper surface of the tail, which is even slightly tinged with this color. The entire head, except the vertex, the sides of the neck, and the under parts generally, light brownish-vinaceous, strongly tinged with purple on the breast, becoming lighter behind, and passing into brownish-yellow or creamy-ochraceous on the anal region, tibiæ, and under tail-coverts. Sides of the neck with a patch of metallic purplish-red. Sides of body and inside of wings clear light blue. Wing-coverts and scapulars spotted with black, mostly concealed, and a small oblong patch of the same, with a steel-blue reflection, below the ear. Tail-feathers seen from below blackish, the outer web of outermost white, the others tipped with the same, the color becoming more and more bluish to the innermost, which is brown. Seen from above there is the same gradation from white to light blue in the tips; the rest of the feather, however, is blue, with a bar of black anterior to the light tip, which runs a little forward along the margin and shaft of the feather. In the sixth feather the color is uniform bluish, with this bar; the seventh is without a bar. Bill black, the angle of the mouth carmine. Female smaller, and with less red beneath. Length of male, 12.85; wing, 5.75; tail, 6.70. Bare orbits pale blue, with a green tint; iris dark brown; feet lake-red. Young with the feathers of upper parts and jugulum margined with paler; the tints more brownish.

Zenaidura carolinensis.

Hab. Throughout United States from Atlantic to Pacific. Cuba; Middle America to Panama. Localities: Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 391); Cordova (1856, 359); Guatemala (Ibis, I, 222); Cuba (Cab. J. IV, III; Gundl. Rep. I, 1866, 301); Honduras (Taylor, Ibis, II, 227); Southeastern Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 24, breeds); Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 93); Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 139); Yucatan (IX, 207).