Page 250. 
230 THE ANATOMY OF THE COLUMBZ. 
genera, except in Pterocles and Syrrhaptes, exceed half an inch in 
length. j 
4, The presence or absence of the ambiens muscle, which does not 
seem as yet to have engaged the attention of naturalists, so far as 
this suborder of birds is concerned. 
I. The number of tail-feathers in the different genera of the 
Columbe. 
Nitzsch divides the Pigeons into those with 12 and those with 
16 rectrices, and does not refer to any other numbers. Different 
authors have recorded the number of tail-feathers in some of the 
genera. Twelve, fourteen, sixteen, and twenty are the numbers which 
IT have been able to find in the different species which I have been 
able to examine, though in Calenas one specimen had only ten 
rectrices in the perfect tail, whilst most have twelve. Inspection of 
the following list will show that in some of the genera there are 
peculiarities in the number of the tail-feathers which indicate differ- 
ence of more than specific importance; for instance, in Carpophaga 
fourteen is the typical number of the rectrices, but C. nove-zealandie 
differs from all its congeners in possessing only twelve :— 
Number of 
Name of genus and species. rectrices. 
Caloonas 2icobaried a. 6 a ose sé aisiet ne speckle pe ne 12 
Chalcopelia, puedo os: a.s.0le + os estig ema ee 12 
Chalcophaps chrysochlora ........... ieee es 12 
Chamepelia talpacott ........0ccscsccvecees 12 
Columba (all the species examined).......... 12 
Eictopistes Migratorws.. 1... ecceesceecevcens 12 
Leptoptila jamaicensis ...... 0.0. ee cece cees 12 
Lopholeemus antarcticus ........+.++5. asia. « 12 
Macropygia phastanella ...... 0. 0c cece eceees 12 
Metriopelia melanoptera ........ec eee cveceee 12 
Starneenas cyanocephala.......6..eeeeeeeeee 12 
Turtur (all the species examined)............ 12 
Tympanisbria O100l08 os oc o06 ste ans pean aes 12 
LEndidG MATHMACANA, 060 cccerercvecsanens 12 
Carpophaga (all species examined* except C. 
NOVM=ZEALANAUL) occ ce vcvscvcencvvcscese 14 
Didunculus strigtrostris .......6 2. cece ee eeee 14 
Geopelia (all species examined) ............ 14 
TRUCOSAT CUA PUALA oe eect ence eees 14 
* Including C. spilorrhoa, of which I examined several examples. 
