472 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



wings light brownish grey, pale ashy on the medial coverts ; the 

 primaries dull blackish towards their tips ; the secondaries broadly 

 tipped with dusky, and the tertiaries and their coverts having a 

 sub-terminal dusky band and broad greyish tips, producing a series 

 of three short bars, and a trace of a fourth ; tail (with its upper 

 coverts) ashy-black, with a broad greyish white bar occupying 

 the third quarter from the base of its middle feather, and narrow- 

 ing and curving forward to reach the tip of its outermost feathers, 

 which are also white at their base on the outer webs. 



Bill black ; irides yellow ; legs lobster-red. Length nearly 

 14 inches ; wing 9^ ; tail 5. 



This remarkably colored Pigeon is found on the Himalayas, 

 chiefly towards the North-west, and is stated to frequent rocky 

 heights and sequestered valleys, from 10,000 feet to the snow 

 level, in large parties. 



It feeds in the fields, returning to the rocks to roost ; and is 

 said to be shy and wary. 



Other true Columbines of the Old World, are C. guinea, L. 

 (C. trigonigera, Wagler), referred to Stictcenas, Reichenbach, stated 

 by some to be the common domestic Pigeon of Abyssinia ; and 

 C. albitorques, Riippell, referred to Tamiamas, Reichenbach, said 

 to have the bill remarkably short. 



There are a good many American Pigeons placed in this division 

 by Bonaparte under his section Americans (Picazurus, of 0. des 

 Murs), distributed by him in four different genera. 



Sub-fam. Macropygin^, Bonap., Cuckoo-doves. 



Head small ; feet short ; tail very long, graduated or wedge- 

 shaped ; wings rather short. 



This division comprises a small group of Pigeons peculiar to 

 the Indian region, more especially to the Malayan islands, and one 

 species extending to Australia. They are distinguished by their 

 long and broad tails ; are more or less frugivorous in their habits, 

 occasionally feeding on the ground, and, in their physiognomy, 

 and partly in their coloration, they resemble Doves rather than 

 Pigeons. Ruddy brown is the prevalent colour ; in many disposed 

 in narrow cross rays, as in the rufous phase of certain Cuckoos, 



