go COLUMB^: Pigeons and Doves 



COLUMB.E: Head generally small; bill thin, shorter than 

 head, with base swollen and covered with bare skin. Legs and 

 feet stout. About five hundred species are known; widely 

 distributed, most numerous in Australia and islands of the 

 Indian Ocean, where many are crested, crowned, or plumed, 

 and some highly colored. The extinct flightless Solitaire and 

 Dodo are included in this Order, though differing so widely from 

 all existing members. 



BAND-TAILED PIGEON 



(312. Columba fasciata fasciata) 14 in. 



Whole upper parts slaty, browner on back; hind neck bronzy 

 green, above this a white nape-band; purplish slaty below, 

 whitening on belly; tail square-cut, showing an ashy band above, 

 nearly white below. 



In shape resembles the domestic pigeon. 



Notes: Suggest an Owl rather than a Pigeon. 



Feeds extensively on acorns in fall and winter. Sometimes 

 falls victim to poisoned grain intended for ground squirrels. 



WESTERN MOURNING DOVE 



(316a. Zenaidura macroura marginella) 12 in. 



Back and wings brownish, with round or oval black spots; 

 crown and back of neck bluish slaty; lower parts vinaceous; a 

 black ear-patch and an iridescent spot on sides of neck; tail long 

 and pointed, with much white on sides. Female duller. Im- 

 matures "scale-marked." 



Food almost entirely waste grain and weed seed. As a de- 

 stroyer of such seeds the bird is far more valuable than as a 

 target for the hunter's gun. 



