GREAT CROWNED PIGEON. 



THERE are several minor varieties of Pi- 

 geons, which it is neither necessary, nor suit- 

 able to our limits, to notice. We cannot, how- 

 ever, close our sketch of this beautiful order, 

 without mentioning the most magnificent bird 

 which it comprises, the Columba coronata of 

 Linnseus, or Great Crowned Pigeon. In size it 

 is nearly equal to the turkey : the greater part 

 of its plumage is of a fine purple, or bluish ash 

 colour ; the middle of the back, and the coverts 

 of the wings, are of a dark reddish brick co- 

 lour; these together, says Edwards, form a 

 kind of saddle across the upper part of the 

 bird : some of the first row of covert-feathers, 

 above the quills, are white, with red tips ; the 

 remainder of the row is ash coloured. The 

 eye is of a beautiful red, and placed in the 

 centre of a broad space of black, which passes 

 backward from the upper mandible, and enJs 



