COL 



COL 



During their short stay in this country, 

 they are to be seen, not unfrequently, in 

 KtrV, In flocks of about fifteen or twenty, 

 and commit no small depredations on the 

 pea hekls of that county, peas being their 

 most favour'. te food. They build general- 

 ly in the wood?, and on the highest trees. 

 The sounds of the male are particularly 

 soft and impressive, and his assiduity to 

 please the companion of his joys and cares 

 has induced the poets of every age to ex- 

 hibit him as a model of pure, constant, 

 and delicate attachment. See Aves, Plate 

 IV. fig. 7. 



C. migratoria, or the American migra- 

 tory pigeon. These birds pass the sum- 

 mer in the northern parts of North Ame- 

 rica, and on the approach of winter move 

 towards the southern. They build in 

 trees, and feed principally upon acorns, 

 and mast of every description. They are 

 also extremely fond of rice and corn. 

 They pass in their periodical migrations 

 in flocks, stated to extend in length two 

 miles, and a quarter of a mile in width ; 

 occasionally alighting in the course of 

 their journey, and covering the foliage of 

 considerable woods. During what is 

 called their flight time, the common peo- 

 ple of the country easily knock them from 

 their roosts, and find them a very nourish- 

 ing and pleasant, as well as cheap article 

 of food. In Louisiana, it is a common en- 

 tertainment in an evening, in which ladies 

 frequently participate, to enter the woods 

 frequented by these birds, and burn a 

 small quantity of sulphur under the trees 

 on which they are lodged. Stupified by 

 this application, they almost immediately 

 quit their hold, and drop lifeless to the 

 ground, whence they are picked up in 

 quantities. 



C. oenas inhabits old turrets, and rocky 

 banks of Europe and Siberia, fig. 2. 



. 



COLUMBIUM, in mineralogy and 

 chemistry. Mr. Hatchet, in examining 

 some minerals in the British Museum, 

 observed one. which attracted his atten- 

 tion, from its resemblance >o chromate 

 of iron. On analysing it, he found it to be 

 composed of a metallic acid, united with 

 oxide of iron ; and this acid, by farther 

 experiments, was found to differ in its 

 properties from every other. Mr. Hatchet 

 did not succeed in reducing it to the me- 

 tallic state. To the metal, however, 

 which he supposed to be its basis, he 

 gave the name of Colflmbium, as tbe ore 

 affording it was the produce of America. 

 The mineral which afforded this metallic 



VOL. III. 



acid is of a dark brownish grey colour ; 

 its lustre is vitreous, inclining to metal- 

 lic : its fracture imperfectly lamellated : 

 it is moderately hard and very brittle : 

 its particles are not attracted by the mag- 

 net : its specific gravity is 5.9. From 

 this mineral Mr. Hatchet extracted the 

 peculiar matter which may be named co- 

 lumbic acid. The columbic acid is of a 

 pure white colour, and not extremely 

 heavy ; it has scarcely any taste, nor does 

 it appear to be soluble in boiling water, 

 but, when placed on litmus paper, mixed 

 with distilled water, soon renders the pa- 

 per red. 



From the acid solutions of columbic 

 acid, the alkalies throw it down in the 

 form of a white flocculent precipitate. 

 Prussiate of potash changes the colour 

 to an olive-green, and a precipitate of 

 the same colour is gradually form- 

 ed. Tincture of galls produces a deep 

 orange-coloured precipitate, especial- 

 ly when there is not too great an 

 excess of acid present. Zinc, immers- 

 ed in the solution, gives rise to a 

 white precipitate. The fixed alkalies 

 combine readily, both in the humid and 

 in the dry way, with columbic acid, 

 forming with it salts called columbates. 

 When fused with it, a compound is form- 

 ed, which is soluble in water; and if the 

 alkali be in the state of carbonate, the 

 carbonic acid is disengaged during the 

 fusion with effervescence. When a so- 

 lution of potash is boiled on it, a quantity 

 is dissolved; the solution, which has a 

 considerable excess of alkali, affords, by 

 gentle evaporation, a white salt in shin- 

 ing scales, having a disagreeable acrid 

 flavour, not soluble very readily in cold 

 water, but, when dissolved, the solution 

 is permanent. Nitric acid added to it 

 precipitates the columbic acid. Prussiate 

 of potash and tincture of galls produced 

 no change ; but when with either of 

 them a few drops of muriatic acid were 

 added, precipitates, similar to those pro- 

 duced by these re-agents in the acid so- 

 lutions, appeared an olive green with the 

 one, and an orange-coloured precipitate 

 with the other. Hydro-sulphuret of am- 

 monia produced a reddish brown precipi- 

 tate. 



This substance is possessed of proper- 

 ties different from any of the known me- 

 tals or metallic oxides or acids : for al- 

 though in some qualities it approaches 

 to titanium, tungsten, or to molybdena, 

 it differs from them, and from all the 

 others, particularly in the precipitates 

 it affords with prussiate of potash and 



Kk 



