COLUMBIDAE 34 1 



primaries have cinnamou inner weljs. S. squamosa, of Brazil, 

 Venezuela, and Colombia, has a white wing-patch, absent in 

 S. iyica, extending from Texas- to Nicaragua. These " Scaly 

 Doves," as they are called, seem to be essentially terrestrial. 

 Geopelia hMmeralis, of Australia and Southern New Guinea, is 

 brown above, with black scale-like markings, a rufous nape, a 

 bluish forehead and chest, a pinkish breast, and a wliite mid-belly. 

 The remiges are rufous on the inner web. G. eunrata, of 

 Australia only, has small white wing-spots, and no black marginal 

 markings on the feathers. G. tranquiUa, of the same country, G. 

 striata, ranging from South Tenasserim to the Philippines and the 

 Moluccas — introduced into Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, 

 and St. Helena — and G. mavgii, found from the, Timor group to 

 the Ke Islands, are distinctly banded with black and white, the 

 first round the neck only, the other two on the breast also. These 

 long-tailed species, resembling miniature Turtle-Doves, frequent 

 grassy plains, thickets, or swampy river-sides in small flocks, and 

 flit tamely from tree to tree, alighting with upturned tail ; the 

 " coo " is rarely loud ; the food consists of seeds and berries, 

 usually obtained upon the ground ; the nest, placed rather low, 

 is of twigs or grass. 



Group (/). — Turtur contains twenty-eight Old World forms, 

 reaching eastward to Japan, the Ladrones, and the Moluccas. 

 In habits resemljling the members of the genus Columba, they are 

 browner in coloration, and about three quarters of the size ; while 

 some exhibit lateral patches of dark feathers tipped with blue, grey, 

 or white on the nfeck, the plumage whereof in other species is 

 bifurcated and spotted with rufous or white. Many have a black 

 nuchal collar, and a few somewhat fawn-coloured upper parts ; the 

 lower surface is more or less vinaceous, and the rectrices, except 

 the two median, are tipped with white or grey. The following- 

 may exemplify the range of this sixth section of the Peristerinae : — 

 Turtur communis, the Turtle-Dove of Europe, winters in Northern 

 Africa and Western Asia ; T. douraca or risorius (our common 

 cage-bird), extends from Turkey to India and Japan; T. orientalis, 

 accidental in Europe, only from India to Japan ; T. tigrinus from 

 the Malay countries to the Moluccas ; T. dussuniieri from Borneo 

 to the Ladrones ; T. semitorquatus, T. isahellinus, and so forth, 

 inhabit Africa ; T. picturatus Madagascar, T. aJdabranus, T. comor- 

 ensis, T. co-pinngpri, T. alhotti, and T. rostratus the neighbouring 



