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.