73 



COLUM8ID.E. 



COLUMBlDyE. 



74 



seeking their own food immediately. Finally, a striking character 

 removes the pigeona from the gallinaceous birds, and in M. 

 Vieillot's opinion places them in the same natural group with the 

 J'n.-.x rfi, namely, the possession of a posterior toe articulated at the 

 bottom of the tareus, upon the same plane as the anterior toes, 

 touching the ground throughout its length in walking and embracing 

 the roost in perching. On the contrary, in the gallinaceous birds, the 

 hind toe is articulated upon the tarsus higher than the others, and 

 only touches the ground with its claw, or at most with its first 

 phalanx, and remains perpendicular when the bird is on the perch. 

 Nevertheless it must be confessed that there are found among the 

 pigeons species which participate in some degree with the gallinaceous 

 birds in regard to their manners and gait (allures) or some exterior 

 conformity. Such are the Colombi-Gallines, the Pigeon-Caille of Le 

 Vaillant, to which must be added the Colombi Gall ines of M. Temininck, 

 the Mountain-Partridge of Sloane, the Blue-Headed Pigeon, the 

 Cocotzin, Ac., all which have their feet more elongated than those of 

 their congeners, with the wings of tlie partridges, that is to say j 

 rounded, and with the two first quills shorter than the thud or fourth ; j 

 but for the rest, all, with the exception of the Colombe-Galliue of Le 

 Vaillant, approach the other pigeons in their amours, their laying, and 

 the bringing up of their young; and so it is of the birds which at 

 Gindaloupe and Martinique bear the name of Partridge; and M. 

 Vieillot quotes Dutertre, who says that "according to the common 

 opinion of the inhabitants of Guadaloupe, there are three sorts of 

 partridges, red, black, and gray, which have never passed in my mind 

 for aught but turtles (tourterelles) ; for they have not the short 

 quality of flesh belonging to our partridges, they have the straight 

 bill, they perch and build their neste in trees, they only lay two eggs," 

 Ac. (' Hist. de Antilles," torn, ii.) These facts, adds M. Vieillot, 

 " have been confirmed to me by the inhabitants of Martinique and 

 Guadaloupe. Of all the pigeons and turtles, continues this ornitho- 

 logist, which I have had occcamon to study in the living state, the 

 Cocotzins are those which appear to me to have the greatest relation 

 to the partridges ; their haunt is always in the fields and savannahs ; 

 there they seek their food, and never resort to trees; they raise them- 

 selves into the air like the partridges, and after a short flight alight 

 upon the ground. For this reason the English and the inhabitants of 

 the United States call it the Ground Dove. But the habit of 

 frequenting the ground, Ac. does not belong exclusively to the 

 pigeons whose wings are formed as above stated ; for, according to 

 Latham, the Columba Chalcoplera (Phapt), which M. Temminck 

 arranges with his Columbtt (Vieillot's first section), has the same 

 habitn, so that the English of Australia call it the Ground Pigeon. 

 .(Vieillot.) 



" The family of Col umbldti (says Mr. Vigors, ' Linn. Trans.,' 

 vol. xiv. p. 410), alternately arranged by systematic writers among the 

 Perching and Gallinaceous orders, and not unfrequently grouped as a 

 separate order between the two, at once indicates where the point of 

 junction exists between them. These birds, although we have the 

 high authority of Linnreus for uniting them with that division of our 

 Perchers which forms hU Pagseres, I do not hesitate in arranging, con- 

 formably to the opinion of Messrs. Cuvier and llliger, as a subdivision 

 of the Gallinaceous Birds. 



" In those particulars, where they respectively assume the character 

 of each order, their affinity with the latter is considerably stronger 

 thmi that which approximates them to the former. Their food and 

 habits, their internal economy, and the formation of their bills, 

 identify them with the Rtuoro ; while, on the other hand, the cha- 

 racters which bring them near the Iiuestorn, their divided toes and 

 comparatively short leys, are weakened by the resemblance which 

 those members bear to the same parts of the contiguous order in their 

 general structure, and more particularly in the bluntneas of the nails, 

 so strongly indicative of the rasorial habits of the Gallinaceous Tribes, 

 and so strikingly contrasted with the sharpness of the nails in the 

 Linncean Ptueru>. They are much more nearly allied to these latter 

 tribes by their habits of perching and building their nests in trees or 

 rocks, by the absence of the spur on the legs of the male, and by the 

 inferior number of their tail-feathers." 



In a note to that part of the text which alludes to the rasorial 

 habit* of the Gallinaceous Birds, the author cites the habits of 

 Columba Nicobarica, Columba caruttfu/ata, and Coluatba paeterina. 

 Mr. Vigors accordingly places the Columbida; in the aberrant group 

 of bis Ratoret. " I have already observed, when speaking of the affi- 

 nities," says that ornithologist in the paper above quoted, " which 

 connect the orders of birds together, that the Columbidce form the 

 . passage from the Jnwsnorez to the liatftn-pg by their habits of perching 

 and their powers of flight. The hind toe is articulated, as in the 

 Perchers. and their tarsi are shorter, more particularly in the earlier 

 group*, than those of the Gallinaceous Birds in general. The first 

 group which we meet in this extensive family is the genus Vimnjn of 

 M. Cuvier, the bills of which, stronger and more solid than they are 

 usually found to be among the pigeons, unite them to Penelope and 

 CTOJ-, which lorm the opposite extreme of the present order, as well 

 s to Mtuophaga and Curylhaix, which approach, as we have seen, the 

 whole of the groups before us, and connect them with the Perchem. 

 this genus Vinni/'i, which seems confined to the southern divi- 

 sions of t.|,. ; Ol ! World, we may observe a series of groups leading 



gradually to the true Columba, of which genus the European species 

 Columba (Knot, Linn., may be considered to form the type. Hence 

 we are led by several intervening species to the Columbi-Gallines of 

 M. Le Vaillaut, which, still retaining the soft and flexible bill of 

 Columba, approach the typical Gallinaceous Birds in their more ele- 

 vated tarsi, and in their habits of living in company and seeking their 

 nourishment chiefly on the ground. Among these may be noticed 

 some forms, C. Nicobariea, Linn., and C. carunculata, Temm., for 

 instance, which possess the feathered appendages, together with the 

 naked face and caruncles of the Linusean Gallince ; and another group, 

 the Lophyrus of M. Vieillot, which exhibits the size and general form 

 of the same birds, as well as the singular plumes which frequently 

 decorate their head. This last-mentioned genus, formed of the 

 crowned pigeon of India, possessing the strongly-formed leg and foot 

 of Meleagris, Linn., but without the spurs, while at the same time it 

 retains the bill of Culumba, may be observed to open the passage 

 immediately from the present to the succeeding family" (the 

 Phnsiaiii<l ' >. 



The following remarks embody Mr. Swainson's views upon this 

 interesting family : " The extensive genus of Columba, like that of 

 Falco, has been pronounced indivisible by an eminent ornithologist of 

 the present day ; who, from having made these birds his peculiar 

 study, is in one sense pre-eminently qualified to give a decided 

 opinion. The principle he has laid down, and on which this opinion 

 consequently is founded, is, that whenever intermediate species are 

 discovered which serve to unite two neighbouring genera, such genera 

 should invariably be united." After stating that this theory has been 

 refuted in the pages of the ' Zoological Journal,' Mr. Swainson thus 

 continues : " It is admitted that there are certain peculiarities of form 

 and of economy among the Colutnbidte, which point out natural divi- 

 sions. Some of these have been used for the construction of genera, 

 by Messrs. Le Vailluut, Vieillot, and Cuvier, and of sections by M. Tein- 

 ininck ; but the immense number of species already known, and the 

 great influx of new ones, renders it essential that many others should 

 be formed. As we labour under a comparative ignorance of the 

 natural economy of the vast number of tropical species recently 

 described, any attempt to throw the Columbidie into their natural 

 arrangement must be very imperfect. The basis of such a work must 

 rest on their natural habits, their food, and their geographic distribu- 

 tion. Yet, as we see in other natural families that a peculiarity of 

 economy is almost invariably accompanied by some corresponding 

 modification of structure, we shall receive considerable assistance by 

 accurately examining such variations. We may note the forms 

 without being acquainted with their reference to the peculiar habits 

 of the group ; aud although our inference in some eases may be 

 erroneous, in others we shall not be far from the truth. The pas- 

 senger-pigeons, for instance, have their first quill-feather as long as 

 any of the others a sure indication of that rapid and long-continued 

 power of flight they are known to possess. The Columbi-Galliues of 

 M. Le Vaillant are described as having naked and somewhat length- 

 ened tarsi ; a structure well adapted to those ambulating habits 

 which bring some of them close to the Phasianidte, Vigors, and others 

 to the Cracida, Vigors. Another group, the Colombars of M. Le 

 Vaillaut ( Yluayo, Cuv., Tn'ron, Vieill.), have a strong hard bill ; and 

 their short clasping tarsi covered with feathers lead us to conclude 

 they seldom perch upon the ground ; in fact, Messrs. Le Vaillant 

 and Cuvier both assert that these birds are only found in the tropical 

 forests of the Old World. Apparently confined to the same regions, 

 we see another group, wherein the bill partakes of that weak structure 

 observed in the generality of pigeons, while the tarsi are thickly 

 clothed with feathers, similar to the group last mentioned. These 

 seem to be the principal divisions among the Columbida." In 1827 

 the same author characterised the genera Perietera, Chamcpelia, and 

 Ectopiita ; and in the ' Fauna Boroali-Americana,' under Columba 

 Eclopittet migratoria, he has the following note : " As ornithologists 

 do not appear to be aware of the great difference which exists in the 

 groups of this family in the relative structure of their feet, we shall 

 here draw their attention to the principal groups. In the even-tailed 

 wood-pigeons of Europe, North America, and the Old World, forming 

 the restricted genus Columba, the external and internal anterior toes 

 are equal. In the lovely genus P/ilinopus, Swainson, confined to the 

 green pigeons of the Indian and Australian isles, and in that of Vinago, 

 Cuv., formed by the thick-billed species of the same countries, the 

 inner toe is much shorter than the outer ; but in the sub-genus (?) 

 Ectopiales, Swainson, and the small turtle doves, this proportion is 

 reversed, the inner toe being the longest. In the beautiful genus 

 Perutta-a, Swainson, which comprises all the bronze-winged pigeons 

 of Australia and the ground-pigeons of America, the tarsi are more 

 elevated, the hind toe shorter, and the inner toe is likewise the 

 longest. We have been for some time engaged in analysing this 

 family, with the view of ascertaining the relative value of all these 

 groups." Dr. Ritgen (1828) makes the genus Columba, Linn., form 

 the third family (llerpochoropteni) of his first tribe (Choropteni), of his 

 second scries (Xerornitltet, or birds of the dry land) in his tricho- 

 tomous system, as applied to birds. 



P. J. Selby, Esq., in the ' Naturalist's Library' (1835), characterises 

 the following genera, Carpophaf/a, Phapa, and Gtopkilus. He thus 

 speaks of thu classification: " Of the Bub-families or five typical 



