364 



PIGEONS AND SAND-GROUSE. 



XTPPBB PORTION OP THE KIGHT HUMERUS OP (a) SAND-GROUSE, 

 (6) POWL, AND (c) PIQEON. 



(From Garrod, Proc ZooL Soc., 1874.) 



example of which we may mention the performances of the carrier-pigeona All 

 pigeons are provided with a large crop, which becomes glandular during the breeding- 

 season, and then secretes a milky fluid to moisten the half-digested food on which 

 the young are nourished. The amount of food which a pigeon can consume in a day 



is almost incredible, it being 

 probable that one of these 

 birds is capable of eating a 

 quantity more than equal its 

 own weight. Like the sand- 

 grouse, pigeons drink by 

 thrusting the bill into the 

 water and retaining it there 

 till they have quenched their 

 thirst. All pigeons pair for 

 life, and both sexes take pait 

 in the building of the nest, 

 incubation, and rearing of the 

 young. When hatched, the 

 latter are naked and helpless, and thus need care from both parents. The bill of 

 the young is larger and more fleshy than that of the adult, and during the operation 

 of feeding, the old bird thrusts its beak inside that of its offspring, and injects the 

 semi-liquid nutriment. The nest is a simple structure composed of twigs, and 

 generally placed in a tree ; the eggs never more than two in number, being invari- 

 ably pure white. 



The Green, Painted, and Fruit-Pigeons. 



Family Teeronid^. 



This family contains a large number of arboreal species inhabiting Africa, 

 South-Eastem Asia, and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago generally, distin- 

 guished by their rather short legs, which are feathered for more than half their 

 length, and are usually shorter than the middle toe and claw ; the soles of the feet 

 being very broad, and the skin of each toe expanded on the sides. Of these birds 

 three subfamilies may be distinguished, the first containing the green pigeons, which 

 have the bill rather thick. The plumage, with a few exceptions, in which it is 

 chocolate-brown, is mostly green, and most species have a yellow band across the 

 wings. In the first three genera the base of the bill is soft, and the sheath of 

 the upper mandible does not reach the feathers of the forehead. 

 Wedge-Tailed The wedge -tailed green pigeons (Sphenocercus) include seven 



Green Pigeons, difi'erent species, with wedge-shaped tails, and the middle feathers 

 more or less pointed, from South-Eastem Asia ; the best known being the Himalayan 

 and Burmese forms {S. apicicavbda and 8. sphenv/rus). The former is distinguished 

 by having the under surface of the tail black, with a broad grey band across the 

 extremity, and the middle pair of tail-feathers long and pointed ; while in the latter 

 the under surface of the tail is uniform gre}', and the middle pair of feathers are 

 less pointed and much shorter. The habits of this and the other green pigeons are 



