PIGEONS. 251 



for walking and perching, having three toes before and one be- 

 hind ; the middle toe considerably longer than the two lateral, 

 which are nearly equal, and the hind toe directed backwards and 

 shorter than the lateral. They are covered above with numerous 

 short scutella, laterally margined, beneath flat and papillate. 

 The claws are short, compressed, moderately arched, rather 

 blunt. 



The plumage is various, so that no general character can be 

 derived from it, further than that the feathers have the tube 

 very short, the shaft commonly thick, and are entirely desti- 

 tute of the accessory plumule, which is largely developed in 

 the Gallinaceous birds. The wings are for the most part large, 

 more or less pointed, with the second, third, and fourth quills 

 longest ; but the primary quills vary in form, and present seve- 

 ral very curious modifications. The tail is even, rounded, 

 cuneate or graduated. 



The skeleton of the Pigeons diifel-s very materially from that 

 of the Gallinaceous birds. The skull is small, oblong, com- 

 pressed ; the jaws slender, the lower considerably bent, and 

 without an aperture or vacant space in its ramus. It bears a 

 great resemblance to that of the Common Plover, Lapwing, 

 and other Cursores. The intermaxillary bone is extremely 

 slender, the nasal bones, which are joined to it on either side, 

 remarkably small, and the nasal fossa long and slender. There 

 are generally twelve cervical, seven dorsal, twelve united lumbar 

 and sacral, and seven coccygeal or caudal vertebra). The middle 

 three dorsal vertebrae are commonly anchylosed. There are 

 seven flat ribs, the^first incomplete, and, with the last, destitute 

 of the thin broad process, with which the rest are furnished. 

 The sternum. Fig. 49, is very large. On comparing it with 

 that of a Gallinaceous bird, Fig. 43, the differences and points 

 of agreement will at once be seen. In the Pigeons, Fig. 49, 

 the body, ^, c, d^ e^ g^ has the appearance of being broader, 

 which is owing to the union of the posterior lateral processes, 

 seen distinct in Fig. 43, ^, which, however, are only partially 

 united, an aperture. Fig. 49, ^, being still left. The anterior 

 processes, /, remain free, as in the Gallinaceous birds. The 

 crest, a, 6, is proportionally large and of great length ; nor is it 

 obliquely truncate at its anterior part, as in the Rasores. 



