WOOD PIGEON. 241 



by a soft skin, in which the nostrils open, overhung by an 

 incumbent valve. (Cf. Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxi. 



P . i.) 



Pigeons are found over the greater part of the globe, and 

 they are divided by Count Salvadori into five families: 

 Treronidce (Fruit - Pigeons), Columbida (True Pigeons), 

 Peristerida (Ground-Pigeons), Gourida (Crowned Pigeons), 

 and Didunculida (Tooth-billed Pigeons.) 



THE TRUE PIGEONS. FAMILY COLUMBID^. 



These Pigeons have a rather short tarsus, generally shorter 

 than the middle toe. In this respect they show that they are 

 Tree-Pigeons, as opposed to the Peristeridce or Ground- 

 Pigeons, and they have a near relationship to the Treronida or 

 Fruit- Pigeons. The latter, however, have very broad soles to 

 the feet, and have from fourteen to sixteen tail-feathers, 

 whereas the Columbidce have the soles normal and not very 

 broad, the hind-toe only with the skin prominently expanded 

 on the sides, while the tail-feathers are twelve in number. (Cf. 

 Salvadori, op. cit. p. 3). 



Count Salvadori divides the family Columbidce into three sub- 

 families the Columbina, with the tail of moderate length, not 

 longer than the wings, and the Macropygiina and Ectopistince, 

 in which the tail is longer than the wings. 



THE WOOD-PIGEONS. GENUS COLUMBA. 

 Columba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 279 (1766). 



Type, C. livia (Bonn.). 



In this genus the tail is shorter than the wing, and the 

 tarsus is feathered for a small extent on the upper half, but not 

 for more than half its length. 



About sixty different kinds of Wood-Pigeon are known, and 

 they are found in every part of the Old World, and throughout 

 the New World also, except in the more northern parts. 



I. THE WOOD-PIGEON. COLUMBA PALUMBUS. 



Columba palumbus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 282 (1766); Macgill. 

 Brit. B. i. p. 259 (1837); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 3, pi. 456 



