CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 4. COLUMB^.. 



225 



Ilia KIXG-DOVli. 



ORDER 4. COLUMBJE. 



These resemble the gallinaceous birds, and some authors have included them in the same order ; 

 in their structure, however, there are some peculiarities. The oesophagus speedily widens into a 

 large crop, situated on both sides of the alimentary canal, which, during the breeding season, is 

 furnished with numerous glands for the secretion of a milky juice; this, mixing with the food in 

 the crop, softens it so as to render it more fit for the nourishment of the young birds, which are 

 fed for a considerable time with food regurgitated by their parents. The gizzard is very powerful, 

 the intestine long and slender, and the coeca small. 



The Columba}, in general, are arboreal in their habits, but most of them seek their food on the 

 ground, and they all, notwithstanding the shortness of their legs, walk with ease and considerable 

 celerity. Their wings are long and wide, and their flight, as might be expected, is strong and 

 sustained. In their mode of drinking they differ remarkably from all other birds ; for, instead of 

 taking up a small quantity of water in the mouth, and then swallowing it by raising the head, 

 they immerse the bill in the water, and drink without stopping until they are satisfied. The pig- 

 eons generally nestle in trees or in the holes of rocks; rarely on the ground. The young, when 

 hatched, are quite helpless, and require to be fed carefully by their parents for some time, during 

 which they remain in the nest. The duty of incubation, and the care of the young, is shared by 

 both parents. These birds arc found in all the warm and temperate parts of the globe, but it ia 

 in the warmer regions that they occur in the greatest abundance. There, also, many of the spe- 

 cies attain a splendor of plumage which rivals almost any thing else that we meet with among 

 the feathered inhabitants of the air, and of which our native species, although by no means defi- 

 cient in beauty, can give us no idea. Everywhere the doves are regarded with more or less 

 favor, doubtless owing in a great measure to their reputation for conjugal fidelity, and the pecu- 

 liarly melancholy sound of their voice, which is universally a plaintive cooing. These characters, 

 coupled with the continual exhibition of all the signs of a most tender aflfection between the sexes 

 during the breeding season, induced the ancients to consecrate the dove to Venus. In many 

 Christian countries, also, the dove is regarded as sacred, because under its form the Holy Spirit 

 is described as having descended upon our Saviour at his baptism. 



THE DIDUNCULID^. 

 This family includes only a single genus, DIDUNCULUS, and a single species D. strigirostris, 

 found in the Navigators' Isles. They are the size of a ruffed grouse ; upper surface chestnut-red ;: 

 Vol. II.— 29 



