PALUMBUS ARQUATRIX. 561 
pointed thorny seed of a plant which grows along the ground 
in great abundance, all over the country, near water. These 
seeds are very troublesome to those who try to walk barefoot, 
and dogs are continually temporarily crippled by them; but the 
natives, who are accustomed to go barefoot, do not appear to feel 
them.” 
According to Mr. Andersson, “this Pigeon is common through- 
out Damara Land and Great Namaqua and, and congregates in 
immense flocks about March, April, and May, after the breeding- 
season, and may then be obtained in any quantity, at the expense of 
a little powder and shot, which these birds are well worth, as their 
flesh is well tasted and gamey.” Professor Barboza du Bocage has 
recorded O. guinee from Huilla and Capangombe, but we agree 
with Captain Shelley that the record probably belongs to the 
present species. 
Head, body beneath, rump, wings, and basal two-thirds of tail, 
on upper side, cinereous, or plumbeus; back, shoulders, and wing- 
coverts, vinaceous, the latter with numerous triangular white spots, 
which also appear on some of the cinereous feathers of the wings; 
feathers of neck and breast, ruddy vinaceous; each feather being 
bifid at the tip, stiff, and inclined to cinereous, with a glossy green 
tint; apical third of tail, black on the upper side; legs and bare 
skin round the eye, in life, crimson; bill dark cinereous. Length, 
12’’; wing, 8” 9”; tail, 43”. 
Fig. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. pl. 265. 
545. PaLumsBus arquatrix, Uemm. Rameron Pigeon. 
In the genus Palumbus the tail is more than two-thirds the 
length of the wing, and the difference between the tip of the 
secondaries and the tip of the wing is less than half the length 
of the tail; the tarsus is feathered on the upper part near the knee 
joint, and the fourth primary is shorter than the outer three. The 
characters which distinguish the present species are the white 
spots on the wing-coverts and chest, and the lemon yellow bill and 
feet. 
In the months of November and December these pigeons con- 
gregate at the Knysna in vast flocks, to feed on the berries that are 
then ripe; they also extend to the Cape peninsula, migrating thither 
at the season when the wild olive is in fruit, on the berries of which 
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