PHEASANT-TAILED PIGEON. 12 J 



)oped ; the sole of the foot, by the extension of the 

 membrane, is broad and expansive, and the claws 

 are arched and strong, all of which are characters 

 evidently shewing these members to be expressly 

 adapted for perching and prehension, and not for gres- 

 sorial movements. The bill also in one species (C. 

 Reinwartii) approaches in point of strength near to 

 that of Vinagq, and in all of them the tip of both 

 mandibles is hard and firm, the upper one with a vi- 

 sible emargination, and moderately arched. Their 

 habits and mode of life are also nearly allied to the 

 other arboreal species, being the constant inhabitants 

 of the woods, and subsisting upon the fruits and ber- 

 ries of various trees and shrubs. 



M. Temminck in his description of this species, 

 says that it possesses a structure and form precisely 

 similar to that of the Columba migratoria of North 

 America. To this we cannot subscribe, seeing that its 

 essential characters, as above described, are different, 

 and that the only point of resemblance consists in 

 the length of the tail. Indeed, so far removed do we 

 think it from the American group, that we cannot 

 consider it as its analogue in the Asiatic regions 

 where it resides. 



In length it measures from fourteen to sixteen 

 inches, the tail itself being upwards of seven. The 

 wings are short, not reaching when closed above an 

 inch and a half beyond the root of the tail, rounded, 

 and having the third quill-feather the longest, and 

 the first and fourth equal to each other. The bill, 



