S20 GYRANTES.^COLUMBADiE. 



been eye-witnesses of this ; persons who have never 

 heard that this pigeon has any systematic affinity to 

 the GallinacecB, I made many inquiries and found 

 the statement very general, almost universal. A 

 female shot in March had an egg in the oviduct, 

 shelled and perfectly ready for exclusion; it was 

 of a dull reddish-white, unspotted; and measured 

 li-inchby ^. 



Of many which were procured for me in May, 

 nearly every one was of the male sex ; and they 

 were shot from trees ; on inquiry into this anomaly, 

 I was told that during incubation the male in- 

 variably lodges in a neighbouring tree ; a singular 

 deviation from its ordinary habits. 



There is no appreciable diiference between the 

 sexes, except that the male has the vent, under 

 tail-coverts, and thighs of a deeper chestnut, and 

 empurpled. The red of the quills is also brighter. 



PARTRIDGE DOVE.* 



Mountain Partridge. 



Geotrygon montana. 



Columha montana^ Linn. 



Cohtmha Martinica, Temm. Pig. 5, 6. 



? Peristera cuprea, Wagl. 



I AM convinced that our Partridge dove is the 

 montana of Linnaeus, and not his Martinica; the 



* Length 9§ inches, expanse 1 7§, flexure 6, tail 3^, rictus 1 , tarsus 



