THE COLUMBIDE. 59 



fully fledged. — Gallinaceous birds (I believe without exception) run from the nest 

 as soon as hatched. 



Pigeons, for the first few weeks after they are hatched, are invariably supplied 

 with food regurgitated from the crops of their parents ; and in the early stages of 

 their existence the food is always in a soft or pulpy state, so as to render it easy 

 of digestion. — Gallinaceous birds always pick their own food as soon as they 

 run from the shell. 



Pigeons are uniformly monogamous, and the male bird takes a share in incuba- 

 tion. — Gallinaceous birds are, generally speaking, polygamous, and the male 

 never takes any part in incubation. 



Pigeons are strictly vegetable feeders. — Gallinaceous birds, in their early days, 

 are fond of and require insect or other animal food. 



The mode of fighting and courtship, the voice and gait, are characteristically 

 different in the Columbidce and the Rasores. The feathers of the two classes are 

 of a different texture, — so much so as to afford ground for the old wives of 

 Yorkshire to assert, that the sick cannot die on a pillow of Pigeons' feathers. 



We now come to the difference of structure ; and here I would observe, that 

 when a particular organ or part is greatly developed in any one species or group 

 of an order, the same is generally more or less developed (though frequently only 

 rudimentarily) in the whole, of the order, the particular degree of development 

 depending on the peculiar habits and necessities of the species individually. 



I have by me skeletons of three genera and five distinct species of Pigeons ; 

 and of thirteen species of true Gallinaceous birds, among which are some of each 

 of the three families, Pavonid<z, Tetraonidce , and Cracidce. 



It is evident, at the first glance, that they form two perfectly distinct and well- 

 defined groups. Here follow the distinctions : — • 



The Pigeons have a long, slender bill, the nasal aperture forming a narrow slit, 

 and running nearly to the extremity of the bill. (I have no skeleton of the hard- 

 billed fruit-eating Pigeon, which would probably present some modification of this 

 form.) — Gallinaceous birds have the bill strong, short, and arched, with the nasal 

 aperture short and oval. 



Pigeons uniformly possess a furcula, terminating at the extremity of the fork, 

 without any appendage. — Gallinaceous birds always have a bony process or 

 appendage at the extremity of the fork of the furcula, similar to what we see in 

 the Domestic Fowl, but varying in some degree in the different genera and species 

 in size and form. 



Pigeons may be called long- winged birds ; having the extremity, or what may 

 be termed the hand bones of the wings, uniformly of greater length collectively 

 than the humerus ; but these bones are much more developed in the powerful- 

 winged Pigeons, than in the Turtles and Ground Doves.— Gallinaceous birds have, 



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