PIGEONS AND DOVES 281 



XI. ORDER COLUMBJE. PIGEONS AND DOVES 



33. FAMILY COLUMBINE. PIGEONS AND DOVES. (Fig. 45.) 



The 650 odd species contained in the Order Columbce are placed by 

 Salvador! in five families as follows: (1) Treronidce or Fruit Pigeons, 

 restricted largely to the Malayan region, 212 species; (2) Columbidce, 

 the true Pigeons, distributed throughout the world, 120 species, of 

 ^which no less than 70 are contained in the genus Columba', (3) Peris- 

 teridce or Doves, distributed throughout the world, but more numerous 

 in the tropics, 312 species; (4) Gouridce or Crowned Pigeons of New 

 Guinea, 8 species, and (5) Didunculidce, containing only the Toothed 

 Pigeon of Samoa. 



The Family Columbidce of the A. O. U. Check-List contains repre- 

 sentatives of both the Columbidce and Peristeridce as grouped by Sal- 

 vadori, which, in North America, number twelve species. The birds 

 of this order differ widely in their choice of haunts. Some are strictly 

 arboreal, others as strictly terrestrial. Some seek the forests and others 

 prefer fields and clearings. Some nest in colonies, others in isolated 

 pairs, but most species are found in flocks of greater or less size after 

 the breeding season. When drinking, they do not raise the head as 

 most birds do to swallow, but keep the bill immersed until the draught 

 is finished. The eggs number two, rarely one, and are white or creamy 

 in color. Both sexes incubate, the male's daily period, so far as known, 

 being from about 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. The young are born naked, and are 

 fed by regurgitation on predigested food, or 'Pigeons' milk' from the 

 crop of the parent. 



1898. WHITMAN, C. O., Animal Behavior, Biol. Lecture M. B. L, 314 et 

 seq. (Ginn & Co.). 1908. CRAIG, W M The Voices of Pigeons Regarded as a 

 Means of Social Control, Am. Journ. Soc., XIV, 86-100. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. Tail widely tipped with white or grayish white. 



a. Tail pointed. 



a 1 . Back or rump bluish slate-color . . 315. PASSENGER PIGEON. 

 a 2 . Back olive grayish brown . . . . 316. MOURNING DOVE. 



b. Tail slightly rounded 317. ZENAIDA DOVE. 



B. Tail not tipped with white. 



a. Upperparts dark slate-color . . . 314. WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON 



b. Upperparts not slate color. 



ft 1 . Upperparts rufous with purplish reflections. 



b 2 . Line below the eye and belly white or whitish . 322. QUAIL DOVE 

 6 3 . Line under the eye and belly buffy ochraceous. 



322.1. RUDDY QUAIL DOVE 

 c 1 . Upperparts grayish olive-brown. 



c 2 . Crown blue, a white line below the eye. 



323. BLUE-HEADED QUAIL DOVE 

 c 3 . Crown pinkish or like the back 320. GROUND DOVE 



314. Columba leucocephala Linn. WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON. Ad. 

 d". Rich slate-color; crown white; back of head purplish chestnut; back 

 of neck with greenish reflections, each feather with a black border. Ad. 9. 



