v COLUMBAE z 
i) 
at 
that year and the succeeding. Besides breeding in Denmark, 
Holstein, and no doubt elsewhere on the Continent, two pairs 
nested in 1888 in the east of Yorkshire, and one or more on the 
Culbin Sands in Moray, whence in 1889 Professor Newton 
received on August 8 a chick of two or three days old. This 
was exhibited at the Newcastle Meeting of the British Associa- 
tion, and subsequently figured in Zhe Ibis! Doubtless the 
above were not the only cases of reproduction in England, and it 
was hoped that a protective Act, which came into force in 
February 1889, would lead to permanent colonization; but by 
1890, or, according to some, 1892, all the birds had disappeared. 
Asa fossil, Pterocles occurs in the Eocene and Miocene of France. 
The Sub-Order CoLuMBAE must certainly be divided into the 
Families Dididae for the Dodo and Solitaire, and Columbidae for 
the Pigeons, while a third, Didunculidae, may be added to contain 
the Tooth-billed Pigeon of Samoa, to which Ofidiphaps of Papu- 
asia is possibly allied. For convenience sake we may accept four 
Sub-families of the Columbidae, namely (1) Gourinae, (2) Peris- 
terinae, (3) Columbinae, and (4) Treroninae, though the arrange- 
ment is somewhat arbitrary. Dr. Gadow’ segregates Caloenatinae, 
but not Peristerinae, while he and Count Salvadori ® agree in con- 
sidering Didunculus merely on a level with these subdivisions. 
Throughout the group the body is compact, while the bill 
varies from stout to slender, being swollen and hardened at the 
decurved tip, which forms a hook in the Dididae and Didunculidae. 
The base of this feature is covered with a soft skin or cere, 
containing the nostrils; Globicera, Vinago calva, and Ptilopus 
insolitus have a fleshy or bony knob at the posterior part of the 
culmen, said to be most prominent in the breeding season; and 
Didunculus has the mandible toothed and truncated. The 
metatarsi, reticulated in the Gourinae, but scutellated elsewhere, 
are usually partly feathered, especially in Fruit-Pigeons; some 
species of Columbigallina, however, have them naked; Drepanoptila 
has them entirely covered; and in many domestic breeds the 
plumage extends over the toes, which are all on the same level, 
and possess moderate claws. The skin is more or less expanded 
' For further details see A. Newton, Jbis, 1864, pp. 185-222 ; 1890, pp. 207-214 ; 
° Bronn’s Thier-Reich, Aves, Syst. Theil, 1898, p. 210. 
* Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxi. 1893, p. 8. 
