288 COLUMBIA. 



in front, entirely divided, one toe behind. Wings of moderate length, 

 rather pointed; the first quill-feather rather shorter than the second, which 

 is the longest in the wing. Tail of twelve feathers nearly even at the end. 



WE have now arrived at the third Order of Birds, the 

 Rasores of systematic authors : most of the birds of this 

 order obtain the principal part of their food upon the 

 ground. The Pigeons have been placed by some Ornitho- 

 logists among the Insessores or Perching birds, and by 

 others among the Rasores or the Gallinaceous Birds. Mr. 

 Thomas Allis, of York, has shown, in a paper published in 

 the second volume of the Naturalist, page 57, in how many 

 instances some of the Pigeons resemble the Perching Birds ; 

 but some of the Pigeons (not of our British species) in 

 their habits and economy, also very closely resemble the 

 Gallinaceous Birds, and the Columbidce, a family very nu- 

 merous in species, are therefore arranged at one extremity 

 of the Rasores, and immediately in connection with the 

 Insessores. 



Our Ring Dove, so called from the white feathers which 

 form a portion of a ring round its neck, a well-known bird, 

 which is also called a Wood Pigeon in many parts of Eng- 

 land, is the largest wild Pigeon in this country, and even 

 in Europe. It is a constant resident in the warm and 

 temperate districts of the Continent, as well as in all the 

 wooded and enclosed parts of the British Islands ; but its 

 numbers diminish in the higher northern regions, where 

 these birds appear only as visitors during summer. 



In this country the Ring Dove, or Wood Pigeon, is also 

 called the Cushat and the Queest : * the last name having 

 reference to a tone of sadness which pervades their notes. 

 Brockett, in his Glossary of North-country words, considers 

 Cushat to be derived from the Saxon cusceate, from cusc, 

 chaste, in allusion to the conjugal fidelity of the bird ; and 

 * Queest, or Quist, forte", a querula voce. N are's Glossary. 



