250 



COLUMBID.E. 



entirely divided, one toe behind. Wings of moderate length, rather pointed ; 

 tiie first quill-feather rather shorter than the second, which is the longest in the 

 wing. Tail of twelve feathers, nearly even at the end. 



We have now arrived at tlie third Order of Birds, the 

 Rasores of systematic authors : most of the birds of this 

 order obtain the principal part of their food upon the ground. 

 The Pigeons have been placed by some Ornithologists among 

 the Insessores or Perching Birds, and by others among the 

 Rasores or the Gallinaceous Birds. Mr. Thomas Allis of 

 York has shown, in a paper published in the second volume 

 of the Naturalist, page 57, in how many instances some of 

 the Pigeons resemble the Perching Birds, but some of the 

 Pigeons (not of our British species) in their habits and eco- 

 nomy, also very closely resemble the Gallinaceous Birds, and 

 the Columbicla;', a family very numerous in species, are there- 

 fore arranged at one extremity of the Rasores, and immedi- 

 ately in connection with the Insessores. 



Our Ring Dove, so called from the white feathers which 

 form a portion of a ring round its neck, a well known 

 bird which is also called a Wood Pigeon in many parts of 

 England, is the largest wild Pigeon in this country, and 

 even in Europe. It is a constant resident in the warm and 

 temperate districts of the Continent, as well as in all the 

 wooded and enclosed parts of the British Islands ; but its 

 numbers diminish in the higher northern regions where this 

 species appear only as visiters during summer. 



In this country the Ring Dove, or Wood Pigeon, is also 

 called the Cushat and the Quecst:* the last name having 

 reference to a tone of sadness which pervades their notes. 

 Brockett, in his Glossary of North-country words, considers 

 Cushat to be derived from the Saxon cusceate, from cusc, 

 chaste, in allusion to the conjugal fidelity of the bird ; and 

 Mr. Booth in his Analytical Dictionary, says, " Pigeons 

 of all kinds are understood to be particularly faithful in their 



* Queest, or Quist, forte, a querula voce. — Kare's Glossary. 



