280 COLUMBA LIVIA. 



possible to procure. They are both old birds, more especially 

 the. male. I have only to add that their eggs are exactly simi- 

 lar to those of the domestic pigeons, whose first parents the 

 Rock Pigeons probably are.'" 



*' Lerwick, Shetland, 4th January 1837.'' 



The individuals sent proved to be, as Mr. Barclay had con- 

 jectured, the one an old male, the other a young female. 



Male. — The bill black, as is the fore part of the tumid nasal 

 membrane, of which the basal portion is white. Feet carmine, 

 claws black. The general colour of the plumage is light greyish- 

 blue, deeper on the lower parts, and much pal^r on the wings 

 and fore part of the back. The neck is splendent with bright 

 green and carmine-purple, there being a band of the latter be- 

 neath the broader band of the former. The middle of the back, 

 and a part of the sides are pure white, as are the axillar feathers 

 and the lower wing-coverts. The quills are greyish-blue, the 

 inner webs lighter, the outer tinged with dusky ; the whole 

 outer web of the first, a great part of that of the second, and 

 the extremity of all, greyish-black. There are besides two 

 black bars on the wing, one extending over the secondary 

 coverts, except the four outer, the other over six of the inner 

 secondaries. Tail greyish-blue, with a terminal band of black, 

 averaging an inch, but broader in the middle ; the outer web 

 of the lateral feathers white from the base to the black band. 



The cosophagus, PI. YII, Fig. 1, «, 5, ^, /, g, is six inches 

 and a half long, and is immediately dilated to the diameter of 

 an inch and a quarter, enlarges to an inch and a half, ^, r, at 

 the distsance of two inches from the commencement, then con- 

 tracts a little, ^, -and suddenly expands into an enormous crop, 

 c, d^ e^ /, of a transversely oblong form, its greatest diameter 

 three inches and a quarter. The crop is quite membranous, 

 without any appearance of glandules, excepting around the 

 niouth, and curves round the neck so as nearly to meet be- 

 hind. The oesophagus then contracts,/, to a diameter^of [four 

 twelftli^ ; the proventriculus, g, is elliptical, ten twelfths long, 

 with large glandules of a cylindrical form, about a twelfth and 



