724 



PIGEON 



deserves attention, but the beautiful " Bronze-wings " of Australia, 

 belonging to the genus Pha])S, and some others are in their way 

 hai'dl}^ inferior. Then may be mentioned the strange Nicobar 

 Pigeon, Calwnas, an inhabitant of the Indian archipelago, not less 

 remarkable for the long lustrous hackles that clothe its neck than 

 for the structure of its gizzard, which has been described by Sir 

 W. Flower {Proc. Zool Soc. 1860, p. 330), though this peculiarity 

 is matched or even surpassed by that of the same organ in the 

 Phienorrhina goliath of New Caledonia {Rev. Zool. 1862, p. 138) and 

 in the Carpophaga latrans of Fiji, wherein the surface of the epithelial 

 lining is beset by horny conical processes, adapted, it is believed, 

 for crushing the very hard fruits of Onocarpus vitiensis on which the 

 bird feeds {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 102). The modern giants of 



Foot of ffixA. 



Pigeons' Feet, 

 shewing amount of feathering of the " tarsu.s. 



(After Swainson.) 



Hallux of 



Engyptila and Ptilopus. 



(After Swainson.) 



the group, consisting of about half a dozen species of the genus; 

 GOURA and known as Crowned Pigeons have been already noticed, 

 and all that need be added here is to mention the reticulated 

 instead of scutellated covering of their " tarsi." In contrast to 

 them may be mentioned the African CEiut capcnsis, the " Namaqua 

 Duif " of the Dutch colonists, which if not the smallest is one of the 

 most graceful in form of all the Colnmhx. 



A very distinct type of Pigeon is that represented by Dichinculus 

 stripirostris, the " Manu-mea " of .Samoa, absurdly called the Dodlet, 

 and still believed by some to be the next of kin to the DOdo, though 

 really presenting only a superficial resemblance in the shape of its 

 bill to that eflfete form, from which it differs osteologically quite as 

 much as do other Pigeons {Phil. Tram. 1869, p. 349). It remains 

 to be seen whether the Papuan genus Otidiphaps, of which several 

 species are now known, may not belong rather to the Didunculidx. 

 than to the true Columbidae. 



