Gentts COLUMBA. 



Salvador! includes in the genus Columba all our Indian Rock- 

 Pigeons and Wood-Pigeons of the first four genera given above, but 

 even he adds in a footnote : " I feel quite sure that the numerous 

 species of the genus Columba ought to be arranged in several sub- 

 genera, but as only some of them can be easily defined ... I have 

 thought it best to leave them all, as a whole, in one genus." 



As regards our Indian birds, they are not difficult to divide into 

 genera ; the tj^ical Rock-Pigeons with their grey plumage and the 

 Snow-Pigeon with a similar type of plumage, only snow-w'hite instead 

 of grey, are conveniently placed together in the genus Columba. The 

 Speckled Wood-Pigeon with its curious lanceolate plumage and colora- 

 tion, different from all other Rock- or Wood-Pigeons, at once singles 

 itself out from the rest and thus comes alone in the genus Dendrotreron. 

 Of the true Wood-Pigeons, Palumbus, we have but one — a very near 

 relative of the Enghsh Stock-Dove ; and, finally, we have a number of 

 Wood-Pigeons similar in structure to Palumbus, but varying consider- 

 ably in coloration, which are placed together in the genus Alsocomus. 



The genus Columba, as restricted according to this classification, 

 contains four species of Pigeon, one of which is again divided into 

 two subspecies. 



With the exception of the Snow-Pigeon, which is mostly white to 

 suit its snow-clad habitat, they are birds of grey plumage of different 

 shades, with a certain amount of metalHc lustre about the neck. In 

 habits they are more terrestrial than arboreal, though perching freely 

 and sometimes roosting on trees. 



The tails are short, the tips of the closed wings reaching almost 

 to the end of the tail ; the tarsi and feet are longer and formed for 

 walking, the former being unfeathered ; the nostrils are narrow and 

 obUquely set in the swollen cere, and the wings are long and pointed, 

 the first or second primary being the longest. 



