Long-tailed Ground-Dove

The long-tailed ground dove is 15.7 to 17.7 cm (6.2 to 7.0 in) long. The adult male's forehead and crown are bluish gray. Its upperparts are brown with a pinkish tinge on the hindneck. The folded wing shows two iridescent purple bands and a row of large purplish black spots. The throat and breast are pinkish mauve fading to white on the belly. The long tail's central feathers are brown and the outer ones black with white tips. The eye is gray to blue surrounded by bare yellow to orange skin. The adult female's eye surround is paler than the male's; its underparts are paler pink, its hindneck and shoulders more olive-brown, and the rest of the upperparts an ashier gray. Juveniles are duller and more grayish brown overall, and the bands and spots on the wings are chestnut and buff.

The long-tailed ground dove is found discontinuously in much of central Brazil and adjoining Bolivia. It inhabits drier (but seasonally wet) grassland, savanna, woodland edges, and scrubby parkland, usually near watercourses. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 1,100 m (3,600 ft).

The long-tailed ground dove forages in pairs or small groups, taking a wide variety of seeds from the ground.