Genus STARNŒNAS, Bonaparte.
Starnœnas, Bonaparte, Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Columba cyanocephala, L.)
Gen. Char. Bill short; culmen about one third the rest of head, measured from the frontal feathers. Legs very stout and large; tarsus bare on the entire tibial joint, and covered with hexagonal scales, largest anteriorly, longer than the middle toe and claw. Inner lateral claw the larger, reaching the base of the middle claw; all the claws short, thick, and blunt. Hind toe and claw short; half the middle. Wings short, broad, and concave; much rounded. Tail short, broad, nearly even, but slightly vaulted.
The single species of Dove composing the genus in many respects resembles the Partridges or Quails, both in external appearance and in manners.
Starnœnas cyanocephala, Bon.
BLUE-HEADED PIGEON.
Columba cyanocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 282.—Gmelin, Syst. I, 1788, 778.—Wagler, Syst. Avium, 1827, Columba, No. 112.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 441; V. 1839, 557, pl. clxxii. Starnœnas cyanocephala, Bonap. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. II, 1854, 69.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 193.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 23, pl. cclxxxiv.—Gundlach, Cab. Journ. IV, 1856, 108.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 608.—Cab. J. IV, 108 (Cuba).—Gundl. Repert. Cub. I, 1866, 299.—Reichenb. Handb. Taub. 30, tab. 257, f. 1431; 266, f. 2879–81. Starnœnas cyanocephala, Reichenbach, Systema Av. 1851, p. xxv, pl. xxiii.—Ib. Icones Av. tab. 260 and 266. Geophilus? cyanocephala, Selby, Pigeons, Jard. Nat. Lib. V, 216, pl. xxvii. Columba (Lophyrus) cyanocephala, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d. ed.,) 1840, 769. Columba tetraoides, (Scopoli,) Gmelin, I, 772. Blue-headed Turtle, Latham, Syn. II, II, 651.
Sp. Char. Bill blue, the fleshy part at the base carmine. Iris brown, scales of feet carmine, the interspaces white. Above and on sides glossy dark chocolate-olivaceous; beneath brownish-red, lighter centrally. Chin and throat black, with a narrow border of white below. A white line begins in the chin, and passes under the eye to the occiput. Sides of head above this and forehead black; crown blue. Length, 10.70; wing, 5.40; tail, 4.35.
Hab. West India Islands; according to Audubon found occasionally at Key West, Florida, and other southern keys.
