Columba carolinensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 286.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 613 Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 119.
Carolina Pigeon, Lath. Syn. vol. iv. p. 663.
Carolina Pigeon, or Turtle Dove, Columba carolinensis, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 91. Pl. xliii. fig. 1.
Adult Male. Plate XVII. Fig. 1, 1.
Bill straight, of ordinary length, rather slender, broader than deep at the base, with a tumid fleshy covering, compressed towards the end, rather obtuse; upper mandible slightly declinate at the tip; edges involute. Head small. Neck slender. Body rather full. Legs short and strong; tarsus covered anteriorly with scutella, rather rounded; toes scutellate, slightly webbed at the base; claws short, depressed, obtuse.
Plumage compact on the back, blended and soft on the head, neck and under parts. Wings long, second quill longest. Tail wedge-shaped, long, of fourteen feathers, the middle ones tapering, the rest obtuse.
Bill blackish, at the base carmine-purple. Iris hazel; orbit greenish-blue. Feet carmine-purple; claws dusky. Crown of the head, and upper part of the neck, bright greenish-blue; the rest of the upper parts, including the wing-coverts, light yellowish-brown, tinged with light blue, of which colour are the edges of the wings, and the outer webs of the quills towards the base. Some of the proximal wing-coverts spotted with black. Forehead, and sides of the head brownish-yellow, which colour predominates on the under parts, the breast and neck tinged with blue, and the abdomen and under tail-coverts paler. Quills dusky, margined externally with whitish, the last secondaries light brown and spotted with black. The two middle tail-feathers, and the outer webs of the next five on each side like the back; all the feathers, excepting the middle ones, have a spot of black about an inch from their extremity, the space between which and the base is bright greenish-blue, that beyond it being paler and tinged with brown, excepting in the three outer feathers, where it is white, as is the outer web of the outermost.
Length 12 inches, extent of wings 17; bill along the ridge 7⁄12, along the gap 3⁄4.
Adult Female. Plate XVII. Fig. 2, 2.
The female is somewhat duller in the tints of the plumage; the bright
