562 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS — COLUMB^ —PEEISTERJE. 



seems best to draw the liue, if one must be dra\vii, so as to include the PterocUtcs in CdlunibcEf 

 and leave the Cracidce and Megapodida with GalliruB. The Sand-grouse (better Sand-pigeons), 

 or Pterocletes, represent the inosculation of the two series. They are terrestrial Columbines, 

 modified for a grouse-like life ; the digestive system is fowl-like (coeca several inches long, etc.); 

 but the pterylosis, the sternum and humerus, the cranial and many other characters, are pigeon- 

 like. The only alternative to reference of Pterocletes to the Columbine series is their elevation 

 to independent ordinal rank, as proposed by Huxley. 



The ColumbcB, as above indicated, are intended to be made conformable to Huxley's Periste- 

 romopluB plus Pterocletes. Assuming the imperfectly- known extinct Dodo, Didus ineptus, to 

 have been a modified Columbine, and considering the Pterocletes to represent a rasorial modi- 

 fication of the Columbine series, the Order Columhce may be separated into three groups, or 

 suborders, Didi, Pterocletes, and Perister^, the first two certainly, the last probably, of 

 a single family. The Peristerce alone are American. 



9. Suborder PERISTERiE : True Columbine Birds. 



(Equivalent to the Peristeromorphce of Huxley ; the Gemitores of Macgillivray, or 

 Columhce proper of most authors ; the Gyrantes of Bonaparte, plus Didunculus; Columhce of 

 Garrod minus Pterocletes; Pullastrce of Liljeborg minus Cracidce and Megapodidce.) Skull 

 schizognathous, schizorhinal ; basipterygoids prominent ; angle of mandible not produced ; 

 rostrum externally as above said. Sternum doubled-notched or notched and fenestrate, on 

 each side; pectoral crest of humerus salient, acute. Carotids two. Syringeal muscles one 

 pair. Coeca coli small or wanting ; gizzard muscular ; crop developed ; gall-bladder generally 

 absent. Fourth glutseal muscle undeveloped ; second pectoral specially inserted ; ambiens 

 normally present, or wanting. Oil-gland nude, small, or wanting. Plumage without after- 

 shafts. Feet insessorial ; hallux normally insistent ; tarsus normally scutellate. Rectrices 

 normally 12 or 14. (Rasorial tendency in more rectrices, hallux up, and tarsus reticulate.) 

 Altricial ; psilopeedic ; monogamous ; eggs few. One family ? 



Fig. 389. — Euro|ieaii Ring Dove (Co- 

 lumha padumbas). (From Dixoiu) 



34. Family COLUMBID^: : Pigeons. 



The family is here taken to be co-extensive with the 

 suborder as defined. With one exception (Starncenas 

 cyanocepJiala) , all our species will be immediately recog- 

 nized by their likeness to the familiar inmates of the 

 dove-cot. One seemingly trivial circumstance is so con- 

 stant as to become a good clue to these birds : the frontal 

 feathers do not form antiae by extension on either side of 

 the culmen, but sweep across the base of the bill with a 

 strongly convex outline projected on the culmen, thence 

 rapidly retreating to the commissural point. The plumule- 

 less plumage is generally compact, with thickened, spongy 

 rhachis, the insertion of which will seem loose to one who 

 skins a bird of this family. The head is remarkably 

 small ; the neck moderate ; the body full, especially in the 

 pectoral region. The wings are strong, generally length- 

 ened and pointed, conferring a rapid, powerful, whistling 

 flight ; the peculiar aerial evolutions that these birds are 

 wont to perform have furnished a synonym for the family, 

 Gyrantes. The tail varies in shape, from square to grad- 



uate, but is never forked ; as a rule there are 12 rectrices, frequently increased to 14, raiely to 



