2 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
Pigeons, which frequent trees principally, but can also walk and run 
well; and the Peristeridae or Doves, which are much given to walking 
on the ground. Following Blanford, I unite all Indian Pigeons and 
Doves in the one family Columbidae, which contains the structural 
features of the Order Columbae in so far as that refers to the regions 
with which we are dealing. 
The internal characters are as follows: Palate schizognathous, 
nostrils schizorhinal ; basipterygoid processes present ; dorsal vertebrae 
heterocoelus, cervical vertebrae fifteen in number; sternum with four 
deep posterior notches, the inner pair of which may be converted into 
foramina; the external lateral processes are much shorter than the 
internal; furcula U-shaped. Deep plantar tendons united with a 
vinculum, the hallux connected with the flexor longus hallucis, and 
three front toes with the flexor perforans digitorum. Ambiens muscle 
sometimes present ; the femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, accessory semi- 
tendinosus, and accessory femoro-caudal all present in Indian species ; 
oil-gland nude or wanting ; caeca and gall-bladder sometimes present, 
sometimes absent; both carotids always present. 
The external characteristics are: Upper mandible having the most 
slender portion posterior to the tip, the basal portion, which contains 
the nostrils, is covered with a cere or soft skin ; the tip is swollen, hard 
and convex, giving the appearance of having a small knob. The four 
toes are on the same level, webless, with the hallux or hind toe well 
developed ; the soles are broad, but differ in degree in this respect in 
different subfamilies, being most greatly expanded in the T’reronidae 
or Green Pigeons. Wings aquincubital, with eleven primaries and the 
fifth secondary wanting, long and pointed with close-set coverts. 
Spinal feather-tract well defined on the neck and forked on the 
interscapulary region; after-shaft either not present or only 
rudimentary. 
