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II. GEMITORES. CODERS. 



OR PIGEONS. 



The peculiar characters of this order are those of the single 

 family of the Columbine, of which, in so far as is known, it is 

 exclusively composed. 



COLUMBINiE. 



PIGEONS OB DOVES, 



The beautiful, very extensive, and generally distributed fa- 

 mily of birds commonly known by the names of Pigeons, Doves, 

 and Turtle-Doves, appears to form an order of itself, separated 

 by w^ell-defined limits, but yet, as in other cases, presenting 

 modifications of form indicative of its affinity to conterminous 

 groups. The peculiar shape of the head and bill, more than 

 any other external feature, serves to render the different species 

 readily cognizable as belonging to a single tribe ; for, whatever 

 may be the size, colour, or even shape of a pigeon, it cannot 

 be mistaken. But the relations of the family, it would appear, 

 are not so readily perceived, some of our most approved sys- 

 tematists having associated them with the Passerine, others 

 with the Gallinaceous birds, while a few consider them as con- 

 stituting a distinct group. Linnaeus included them all under 

 the single genus Columba, which has merely been sectioned by 

 M. Temminck, and from which M. Vieillot has only separated 

 two genera under the names of Treron and Lophyrus, while 



