84 ORTHOGENETIC EVOLUTION IN PIGEONS. 



THE GEOPELHN.K." 



The genus Scardafella is apparently the simplest type, and is perhaps the parent 

 form of the other Geopeliinse. The color-pattern, size, and shape of Sc. inca are in 

 strong resemblance to Geopelia striata. The voice, on the other hand, at once 

 reminded me of the Florida ground-dove (Chamcepelia passerina). The continuous 



" See table 3 for genera and arrangement of species. ED. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 31. 



A. Adult male Peristera cinerea. Natural size. Hayashi del., June 1901. Shows closed wing with 

 bars and spots in natural conditions. 



The dark centers are here strongest in the anterior lessor coverts, but they are far from being as definite and 

 clear in outline as in Ch. i>axneri>ia. The lack of sharp outline is pirtly due to the fact that the rest of the feather 

 is gray, while it is vinous in Chanufpelia, and so the contrast is greater. But there is no doubt that the marking 

 here is in marked decline. 



1 to 9. Feathers from left wing of adult male Peristera cinerea. x 2. Toda del., Apr. 1903. 



1. Near bend at front edge. The center is strong gray, while the tip is pale gray without sharp boundaries. 



2. Next below 1. The center is a little better defined. 



3. Next below 2. The center still better denned. 



4. Just behind and below 3. The center about the same as in 3. 



5. Near 4. An oblong oval spot on the lower web. 



6. Higher up the wing, but a lesser covert. Center is only a shade stronger than tip. Round spot on lower web 



7. Third row of coverts. Center very obscure and spot a little larger. 



8. Second row of coverts. Center is scarcely perceptible. Spot is more elongate transversely, almost a semilune 



9. First row of long coverts, from the upper (inner) part of wing. Spot shaped nearly as in preceding figure. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 32. 

 (Illustrating origin of oblique wing-bar in Columbula piqui). 



A. Columbula piqui. x 0.8. Hayashi del., Aug. 1904. 



Wing-bar formed by six daik marginal feather edges. Four tertials bear also marginal dark spots on their 

 inner edge. 



Dark crescentic edges or tips occur in the Columbula piqui, though this is not mentioned by Salvadori or 

 Reichenbach. 



Feathers of steel-blue bar are tipped with steel-blue, and these are the same as the crescents in Scardafella inca. 

 At first sight I mistook these biids for Inca doves and I found many wing-coverts tipped with dark or black, though 

 not so plainly and regularly as in Sc. inca. 



In Chalcopelia afra (Salvadori, p. 06) from Africa the upper tail-coverts are marked with black crescentic tips 



B. Chamcepelia passerina, left profile of adult, x 0.5. Toda del., Nov. 1904. 



The five anterior chequers are in oblique line, corresponding to the position of the oblique bar in Columbula piqui. 

 (See also text-fig. 2.) 



C. Chamcepelia passerina, right wing, x 1.6. Toda del., Nov. 1904. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 33. 

 (Illustrating origin of oblique wing-bar in Columbula piqui.) 



A. Cham<epelia passerina, right wing. Natural size. Toda del., Dec. 1904. 



Shows in still another individual an oblique bar of six spots. 



B. Peristera mondetoura, male. By Toda, after Bonaparts, " Inconographie des Pigeons," 1857, 



pi. cxxvi; the oblique bar is conspicuously present. 



C. From above plate, but does not belong to mondetoura species. 



The female represented here (fig. C) does not belong to this species. See Salvadori, pp. 495-496, who notes that 

 the female monMtoura "has spots on the wing as in the male, but more purple and less blue." And further, the young 

 is "similar to the female ' ' ' . Dark spots on the wings only on the greater coverts." I doubt this latter state- 

 ment. I should expect to find at least the same spots as in the adults, only weaker. 



D. Peristera geoffroyi, adult male. By Toda, after Bonaparte, pi. cxxi. 



Salvadori (p. 494) describes the bars here as "three oblique bands, one blue on the smaller wing-coverts and 

 the other two of purple-chestnut on the median and greater wing-coverts. ' The young resembles the female." 



