COLUMBA. DOVE. 257 



beneath flattened and covered with roundish depressed papillae, 

 the margins rounded and papillate, without basal webs. Claws 

 short, arched, compressed, rather acute until worn. 



Plumage various, the feathers generally ovate or oblong, 

 compact, unglossed in the British species, excepting on the 

 neck. Exotic species however differ in some of the characters 

 of the plumage ; but all that I have examined agree in the 

 following respects : — The feathers have extremely short tubes ; 

 thick, internally spongy shafts ; their downy part extended to 

 near the end, and the plumule or subsidiary downy feather 

 wanting. The wings are long, broad, rather pointed, the se- 

 cond quill longest, the first little shorter ; the quills about 

 twenty-five ; the primaries somewhat narrowed towards the 

 end, a few of the outer with obscure indications of a sinus on 

 the edge of their inner web ; the secondaries broad and oblique- 

 ly rounded. The tail is generally of moderate length, even 

 or rounded in various degrees, and composed of twelve broad 

 feathers. 



The genus Columba, as above defined, is composed of birds 

 varying in size from that of a Crow, Corvus Corone, to that of 

 a Thrush, Turdus musicus. It has representatives in almost 

 every habitable part of the globe ; and the species are remark- 

 able for elegance of form and beauty of colouring. Their 

 flight is rapid, as might be inferred from the structure of the 

 wings. They reside in woods, thickets, and rocks, nestling in 

 elevated j^laces, but usually feeding in the open country. Their 

 food, consisting of seeds of gramina and other plants, nuts, 

 fruits of various kinds, with roots, and other parts of vege- 

 tables, is first deposited in the crop, then pounded in the giz- 

 zard, reduced to a pulj^y state in the duodenum, deprived of 

 its nutritious parts in the small intestine, which is longer than 

 in the Gallinaceous birds, and its refuse passed in a more or 

 less concrete cylindrical form. They differ from the birds just 

 mentioned in having the coeca undeveloped, in being destitute 

 of gall-bladder, and in many other important circumstances 

 mentioned m the character of the family. 



The flight of the Pigeons affords a beautiful example of that 

 peculiar kind which is direct, rapid, light, and steady. By 



