Chamæpelia passerina.
Hab. South Atlantic and Gulf coasts; very rarely as far north as Washington. Southern and Lower California; whole of Middle America, to New Granada and Venezuela; West Indies.
Specimens vary considerably in the depth of the vinaceous tints, but the variation is nearly as much with the individual as with the locality. As a rule, Florida and West India skins are most deeply colored, those from Mexico (particularly from Cape St. Lucas and Orizaba) being much paler in all the tints (var. pallescens, Baird); but specimens from Guatemala and Costa Rica are undistinguishable from the average of the Florida series. Specimens from New Granada (labelled C. granatina, Bonap.), Venezuela (labelled C. albivitta), and the Amazons, are more like Cape St. Lucas specimens, differing from them only in slightly smaller size, the colors being the same in the minutest particulars, except that the crissum is perhaps more whitish, the dusky centres of the feathers being more concealed. These generalizations are based on fifty-six specimens in the Smithsonian Museum.
Habits. According to Mr. Audubon, this Dove is found from the lower parts of Louisiana to Cape Hatteras, following the coast quite round Florida, but is seen very seldom to any distance in the interior. He met with none in the State of Mississippi. They were more abundant among the sea-islands of Georgia and the middle portions of the coast of East Florida than anywhere else.
This bird has also been taken at Monterey, California, by W. Hutton, and a single accidental specimen has been obtained near Washington, D. C.
Specimens were obtained near Matamoras, in Tamaulipas, by Dr. Berlandier, and subsequently by Lieutenant Couch, who generally found them in the forests or open fields at a distance from dwellings. They were observed to fly low, and only for short distances, and to spend most of their time on the ground.
In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, the Ground Dove sometimes perches, and always roosts, on low trees; but is otherwise generally found in pairs, feeding on the ground on small grain and seeds. Several pairs may be seen feeding together, but they do not associate. It is said to be very tame, and to be found about homesteads and in streets and roads. It also breeds in low trees, the cashew and the dogwood seeming to be preferred. It is very rarely kept as a cage-bird, as its note is a plaintive mournful coo, and there is a Creole superstition that misfortune will happen to any one so treating it. The nest is slightly made of twigs, lined with grass, and built in a fork or hollow. The eggs are two, of a rounded oval, white, .87 of an inch by .69.
According to Mr. Salvin, this Dove is one of the most familiar birds of the central region of Guatemala, where it is the only small Ground Dove found. In the coast region its place was supplied by at least two other species. It is abundant at Dueñas, residing all the year, and breeding in the cochineal plantations, where it deposits its eggs, two in number, on the ground under the rows of “nopal.” It is called Tortolita by the inhabitants. He found its nests both on the ground and elevated a few feet above it.
Mr. Dresser found these birds common near Matamoras, and generally noticed them on the road between Matamoras and Brownsville, as well as on a sand-plain close to Fort Brown, on the Texan side of the river. In the interior of Texas he did not meet with any, except once, in April, on the Medina near San Antonio.