BLACK-THROATED DOVE. 215 



between many of the species of Columba, &c. of 

 America, from those which occur both in Africa, 

 India, and Australia. 



The adult bird has the middle of the upper plu- 

 mage, that is, of the head, neck, back, rump-covers, 

 and base of the wings, light grey brown, which gra- 

 dually changes into a delicate lead-colour on the 

 sides of all these parts, more particularly over the 

 wing-covers and on the borders of the deep black 

 patch which is in front of the head and the middle 

 of the throat and breast ; beyond this, all the body 

 beneath is pure white, the longest of the under tail- 

 covers only being deep-black. On the tertials and 

 some of the greater covers there is a large spot of 

 black richly glossed with purple and violet, forming 

 a short transverse band; another, of a brown hue, 

 crosses the lower part of the back, and the tips of 

 the longest tail-covers being brown, form another 

 band more irregular. The greater quills, and three 

 or four of the lesser, are rich rufous, more or less 

 tipt with black. The tail-feathers are lengthened and 

 cuneated ; the longest are grey at their basal half 

 and black to the end, the lateral are much broader, 

 and of a finer and lighter grey, with an irregular 

 band of black just before the tip ; the outermost 

 pair has an additional white edging on the basal 

 half of the external web ; inner wing-covers rufous, 

 the adjoining side-feathers black ; bill and feet yel- 

 low. Such is the description of an adult male from 

 Senegal ; the female, as described by authors, we 

 have not seen, but a bird which we consider as the 



