Birds of Celebes: Treronidae. 5QR 



and are fed on a secretion from the crop of their parents. They lay white 

 eggs, usually two in number, either in holes in trees or rocks, or in lightly- 

 built open nests in trees or bushes. They are vegetable-feeders, furnished with 

 a large crop. 



The Pigeons vary in size from that of a Lark (Geopelia) to that, of a small 

 Goose (Goura), and are of cosmopolitan distribution. 



For anatomical particulars see: Gadow in Bronn's Klassen u. Ord. 1893, 

 vol. VI, pt. 4, II, pp. 210—212, Salvadori, Cat. B. XXI 1893, pp. 1, 2^), and 

 Meyer, Abb. v. Vogelskeletten, vol. I — II, 1879 — 1897. 



Count Salvadori recognises 5 families of the suborder Columbae, of which 

 the Gouridae of Papuasia and the Didimcididae of Samoa are more abeiTant from 

 one another and from the other families, Treronidae, Columhidae and Peri^teridae, 

 than the latter are among themselves. 



The three latter are represented in Celebes. 



FAMILY TRERONIDAE. 



Tree-pigeons, distinguishable from the Ground-pigeons by having the tarsus 

 generally shorter than the middle toe, from the Columhidae by the much broad- 

 ened soles of the toes, by the tail of 14 rectrices (except in 3 genera not 

 occurring in Celebes) ; tarsus feathered for more than half of its length (Salvad.). 

 They are chiefly fruit- eaters. Salvadori subdivides the Treronidae into three 

 subfamilies, of which the Treroninae have the bill rather stout, with a large 

 raptorial-looking nib, longer than the bare soft basal portion. In the Ptilopodinae 

 and Carpophaginae the bill is more slender, the nib less hooked and not so large; 

 the former are small, with brightly contrasting patches of colour, the latter a 

 large species of less varied plumage. 



GENUS OSMOTRERON Bp. 



General colour green. Supranasal plumes not quite reaching to the base 

 of the nib of the bill. Third primary longest, with the inner web deeply 

 scooped out about the middle, where it is hardly wider than the outer web. 

 Tail of 14 feathers, slightly rounded, rather short, the under coverts reaching 

 nearly to its tip. Ranges from India south-east as far as Burn and Timor. 



^ * 251. OSMOTRERON WALLACEI Salvad. 



Green Dove. 



a. Treroa griseicauda (1) Wall, (nee Gray), P. Z. S. 1862, 335, 344; (2) id., Ibis 1863, 

 319; (3) id., ib. 1865, 376; (4) Finsch, Neii Guinea 1865, 176; (5) Schl., Ned. 



1) Gadow and Salvadori state that Pigeons have eleven primaries! There are ten in Turiur and 

 Macropygia. 



