'[.OQ 



C0LUMI3.K. 



SUB-FA MI LY IV. 

 DiDUNCULiN.E. ToutJi-hilled Pigeons. 



Gex. Charac. — Bill nearly as long as the head, with the culmen depressed 

 close to the forehead and then suddenly arched to the tip, which is hooked 

 and acute, the sides slightly compressed, the lower, mandible armed with 

 three distinct angular teeth near the tip, which is truncated ; the nostrils 

 pierced in the middle of the basal membranous space, with the opening 

 oblique and linear ; the wings moderate and concave ; the tail rather short ; 

 the tarsi moderate and rather strong ; the toes rather long, and the lateral 

 ones equal ; the claws long and curved. 





5fe^ >-^-C S--b4J^^g%$\vV 



Fig. 163. — the owl-beaked didunculus. 

 {Didunculus strigirostrig.) 



This sub-family includes only a single species, — ^ 



The Diduncxiliis {Didunculus strigirostris), which, 

 moreover, presents a most extraordinary combination of 

 characters. Tlie Didunculus is rather larger than our 

 common Partridge ; it has the head, neck, and breast of 

 a glossy greenish-black, and the remainder of its plumage 



