PLANT-EATING BIRDS, REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, FISHES 185 



devoted to the description of a few of the more striking adapta- 

 tions to special habits. 



PIGEONS (COLUMBIA) 



The large and widely distributed family of Pigeons (Columbidcz] 

 includes birds which are exceedingly voracious, and as, too, their 

 food is bulky and difficult of digestion, it is not surprising to find 

 that the crop is large and the gizzard powerful. A considerable 

 number of species are collectively known as Ground- Pigeons, 

 owing to their feeding habits. A typical example is the well- 

 known Turtle -Dove (Turtur communis], which may frequently 

 be seen levying toll upon such crops as yield grain or seeds. 

 Here also may be mentioned the largest members of the family, 

 the Crowned- Pigeons (see vol. i, p. 167) of the Australian region, 

 described by Semon (in In the Australian Bush] in the following 

 language: "In New Guinea and the neighbouring districts we 

 not only find the most brilliant, but also the largest and most 

 peculiar of all pigeons, the Crown or Goura Pigeons, which attain 

 the size of a goose, and are crowned by a fan-like erectile diadem. 

 The handsomest head-gear of this sort is to be found in the 

 great species Megapelia (Goura) Victoria, whose prettily-fringed 

 feathery diadem is the loveliest head-gear ever worn by a bird. 

 These crested pigeons are common in New Guinea. During 

 daytime they are generally seen moving about the ground, where 

 they feed on fruit dropped from the trees." 



Those Pigeons which haunt wooded country are known 

 broadly as Tree -Pigeons, and these may either feed mostly on 

 seeds and grain, as in the case of the Wood- Pigeon (Columba 

 palumba) and Stock- Dove (C. anas] of Britain, or fruit may be 

 the most important article of diet. Among the latter are those 

 forms to which the name of " fruit-pigeon " in the limited sense 

 is commonly applied. In many hot and tropical countries inex- 

 haustible supplies of suitable food are to be found on many of the 

 trees. Speaking of a Sumatran village, Forbes (in A Naturalist's 

 Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago] says: "In its near 

 vicinity grew one of the grandest Urostigma trees I have ever 

 seen ; its broad buttresses and sturdy supporters, among which a 

 wanderer might almost lose himself, looking like the pillars of 

 some ancient Moorish temple. It was thick in fruit, and har- 

 boured legions of skipping squirrels, great apes, and troops of 



