a, 
THE WILD PIGEON. 373 
SUB-ORDER COLUMB. 
The basal portion of the bill covered by a soft skin, in which are situated the 
nostrils, overhung by an incumbent fleshy valve, the apical portion hard and con- 
vex; the hind toe on the same level with the rest; the anterior toe without mem- 
brane at the base; tarsi more or less naked; covered laterally and behind with 
hexagonal scales. 
Famity COLUMBID®. Tue Doves. 
Bill horny at the tip; tail feathers twelve, only occasionally fourteen; head 
smooth. 
Sub-Family COLUMBINE. 
Tarsi stout, short, with transverse scutellz anteriorly; feathered for the basal 
third above, but not at all behind; toes lengthened, the lateral decidedly longer than 
the tarsus; wings lengthened and pointed; size large; tail feathers twelve. 
This section of doves embraces the largest North-American species, and among 
them the more arboreal ones. 
ECTOPISTES, Swarnson. 
Ectopistes, SwAtnson, Zool. Jour., III. (1827) 862. (Type Columba migratoria, L.) 
Head very small; bill short, black; culmen one-third the rest of the head; tarsi 
very short, half covered anteriorly by feathers; inner lateral claw much larger than 
outer, reaching to the base of the middle one; tail very long and excessively 
cuneate; about as long as the wings; first primary longest. 
This genus is readily distinguished from the other Columbine by the excessively 
lengthened and acute middle feathers. It formerly included the Columba Caroli- 
nensis ; but this, with more propriety, has been erected into a different genus, and 
will be found in the next section. 
ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIA. — Swainson. 
The Wild Pigeon; Passenger Pigeon. 
Columba migratoria, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 285. Wils. Am. Orn., I 
(1808) 102. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. (1881) 819; V. 561. 
Ectopistes migratoria, Swainson. Zool. Jour., III. (1827) 355. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Tail with twelve feathers; upper parts generally, including sides of body, head, 
and neck, and the chin, blue; beneath, purple brownish-red, fading behind with a 
