232 COLUMBID2. 
incumbent valve, open (Salvadori). There are also many characters, anatomical and 
pterylographical, distinguishing the Order, which is a sufficiently natural one, familiar 
to all ornithologists. The classification here adopted is that of Count Salvadori in the 
twenty-first volume of the ‘Catalogue of Birds.’ With the exception of the genus 
Columba, which is represented in the Old World also, the other genera recorded in 
this work are strictly confined to the American region. 
Fam. COLUMBID. 
The Columbide are divided by Count Salvadori into three subfamilies — the 
Columbine, or true Pigeons, common to both the Old and New Worlds; the Macro- 
pygiine, or Barred Doves, confined to Australia and the oriental regions of the Old 
World; and the Ectopistinz, or Passenger-Pigeons, which are peculiar to America. 
All the species of this family have an abbreviated tarsus, which is usually shorter 
than the middle toe. 
Subfam. COLUMBINA. 
The characters of this subfamily are practically the same as those of the family, with 
the exception that in the true Pigeons the tail is square and of moderate length, not 
exceeding that of the wings, whereas in the Macropygiine and the Ectopistine it is 
graduated and considerably exceeds their length. 
COLUMBA. 
Columba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 279 (1766) ; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxi. p. 241 (1898). 
In this genus the tarsus is shorter than the lateral toes and is slightly feathered on 
the upper part, but never for more than half its length. Colwmba includes the well- 
known European Wood- and Rock-Pigeons, and other remarkable forms inhabiting 
the New World. 
About sixty species are known, and the genus is universally distributed. The nest is 
usually placed in trees, and consists of a frail platform of sticks and bents. The eggs 
are white and two in number, though some species, like C. fiavirostris, lay but one. 
(4, Columba leucocephala. 
Columba minor capite albo, Sloane, Hist. Jamaica, ii. p. 803, t. 261. f. 2°. 
Columba leucocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1. p. 2817; Temm. & Knip, Pig. i. (2) t. 18°; Moore, 
P, Z. S. 1859, p. 61‘; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 222°; Salv. Ibis, 1864, pp. 374°, 380’, 
383°; 1885, p. 193°; 1889, p. 377°; Cory, Birds Bahama Is. p. 137"'; Birds W. Indies, 
p- 209"; Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, p. 131, t. 4. fig. 4°; Ridgw. Pr. U. 8. Nat. Mus. 
x. p. 577; A.O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 120"; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. xxi. p. 278”. 
