DOUBLE-CRESTED PIGEON. 131 



soft feathers, with open or decomposed barbules, 

 each feather increasing in breadth towards the tip ; 

 its colour is a rich reddish-brown. On each side 

 from the posterior angle of the eye it is bounded by 

 a streak of glossy black. The cheeks and ear-coverts 

 are pale reddish-brown, the chin and throat pearl- 

 grey. The feathers of the side and fore-part of the 

 neck and breast are of a pale grey where exposed, 

 but black at the base, their form is trifid, each fea- 

 ther having a division or rather separation of the 

 vanes at a short distance from the tip, as represented 



in the cut. Upon 

 the back part of 

 the neck, though 

 acuminated, they 

 are not distinctly 

 divided as upon 

 the breast. The 

 whole of the back, scapulars, and wing- coverts are of 

 a deep bluish-grey, each feather shewing a distinct 

 darker margin. The quills and secondaries are 

 bluish-black. The whole of the under plumage is 

 grey. The tail is square at the end, and nearly seven 

 inches long, the basal part and narrow band, pale 

 grey, tinged with reddish, the tip and intermediate 

 bar black. The naked part of the tarsi and the toes 

 are crimson-red, the hind toe strong, with a broad 

 flat sole, and longer than the tarsus. The nails are 

 long and moderately curved. 



