108 OKTHOGENETIC EVOLUTION IN PIGEONS. 



Columba fasciata scorns somewhat separate from the other species I have studied. 

 Its neck-mark involves 1 1 rows of feathers, with least differentiation at upper and 

 lower borders (text-fig. 5, Vol. II). The white tips of these feathers, unlike those of 

 C. palumbus, are carried to both the upper and lower limits of the mark. In the ring- 

 doves the white tips extend to both the upper and lower limits of the mark. 



The black bar of the tail is stronger in the female than in the male. In one 

 female that I have kept for three years in captivity I find a few small blotches, or 

 spots, of black in the scapulars. " These scattered flecks of blackish were on the outer 

 webs of the feathers, and had the appearance of the last traces of spots. I can only 

 regard them as remnants of former color-marks. 18 



Columba rufina and C. flavirostris seem to be related to each other, but I have 

 not satisfied myself of their closest relationships among the other species. 19 It seems 

 clear, however, that C. rufina is a few or several steps in advance of C. livia, having 

 carried the wing-bars to complete obsoletion or to a few shadowy reminiscences 

 in some of the secondaries. These vestiges of the outer secondaries the posterior 

 part of the wing are shown in plate 46, figure A. The beak of C. flavirostris strongly 

 resembles that of C. palumbus. 



Columba arquatrix the olive-dove 20 is interesting for having the turtle-dove 

 mark the dark-pointed center not only on the front neck and breast (to about 

 same extent as in the Florida ground-dove), but also on the sides of the neck, and 

 completely around the neck to the middle of the back. 



From the illustrations of Bonaparte's work 21 I learn that the four following 

 species, which I have not seen, show in their color-patterns undoubted relationships 

 with the turtle-doves : 



"These birds were obtained from a dealer in California, and were stated by him to have come from Mexico. 

 Altogether I have obtained 22 individuals of this species. 



"Darwin (Animals and Plants, Vol. I, page 240) says: "Certain variations in the plumage are equally common 

 in the wild C. Una, in dovecot-pigeons and in all the most highly modified races. Thus, in all, the group varies from 

 white to blue, being more frequently white in Europe, and very generally blue in India. We have seen that the wild 

 C. lii'ia in Europe, and dovecots in all parts of the world, often have the uppar wing-coverts chequered with black; 

 and all the most distinct racas, whun blue, are occasionally chequered in precisely the same manner." 



"I have had about 15 Columba rufina from Brazil, but they are difficult to carry through our northern winters. 

 Of C. flavirostris I have had a few specimens from southern Mexico. 



20 Illustration in Temminck and Knip, Les Pigeons, I, 1, page 11, pi. v. 



"Icon. Pig., C. hodgsoni, pi. LXI; C. kucomela, pi. LXII; C. laurivora, pi. LXIX; G. trocaz, pi. LXX. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 48. 



A. Colored photograph of head and neck-mark of the wood-pigeon, C. palumbus. Natural size. 



Toda del., Apr. 1910. 



10 to 12 rows of neck-feathers are more or less modified. The height or extreme of modification (with white- 

 tippod feathers) is on the lower rows, and the mark is also decidedly lateral, all as in the neck-mark of Turtur. A 

 dark or blackish area follows the light tips, and this proximal dark area corresponds to the dark area in neck-feathers 

 of the turtle-doves. 



B. Colored photograph of head and neck-mark of Columba gymnopthalma. Natural size. Toda 



del., May 1910. 



Feathers of neck- mark with light rufous (above) or darker edgings (below); this resembles Turtur. The white 

 tips and increased number of rows remind of C. palumbus. The increased number of rows and the extension of these 

 upon back of the neck are as in C. leucocephala. The eye is reddish-orange. The bill is whitish beyond the nasals; 

 pale flesh -red proximal of the nasals. The feet are red. 



C. Colored photograph of anterior parts of adult male Geophaps smithi. Natural size. Toda del., 



May 1910. 



Showing a broad naked region around the eye, as in C. guinea, and breast patch of clear gray feathers with sub- 

 apical (not apical, as Salvador! thought) black burs. The extreme tips of these feathers is a clear gray. The feathers 

 of the flanks and the under tail-coverts have dark centers, pointed distally, as in Melopelia leucoptera. 



