COLUMB^: COLUMBINE BIRDS. 561 



thence straggliug to Mass. and even Maine ; not authenticated as ocoumng on the Pacific side, 

 but of general distribution in C. and S. Am. 



No one can fail to observe -with interest the great rlifference in tlie form anfl general appearance of tlie 

 Turkey Buzzard and Carrion Crow wlien lie compares tliem sitting side by side sunidng themselves upon chimney 

 or house-top ; and especially the discrepancy in their mode of flight as they wlieel together overhead in endless 

 inosculating circles. The Turlfey Buzzards look larger as they fly, though really they are lighter weights ; they 

 are dingy-brown, with a gray space underneath the wing ; the tail is long ; the fore-border of the wing is bent at 

 a salient angle, and there is a corresponding reentrance in its hind outline ; the tips of the longest quills spread 

 apart and bend upward ; and one may watch these splendid flyers for hours without perceiving a movement of the 

 pinions. Comparing now the Carrion Crows, they are seen to be more thick-set, with less sweep of wing and 

 shorter and more rounded tail, beyond which the feet may project; the front edge of the wing is almost straight, 

 and the back border sweeps around in a regular curve to meet it at an obtuse point, where the ends of the quills 

 arc neither spread apart nor bent upward. The birds show almost black instead of brown ; in place of a large gr.ay 

 area under the wing, there is a smaller paler gray spot at the point of the wing. And, finally, the Carrion Crows 

 flap their wings Ave or six times in rapid succession, then sail a few moments ; their flight appears heavy, and 

 even laborious, beside the stately motion of their relatives. 



OBH.-Cathartes burrovianus Cass., B. N. A., 1868, p. 6 ; Eliot, B, N. A, pi. 36, a doubtful species, is said to 

 inhaliit Lower California. — From various accounts, it seems probable that the king vulture (ei/;;arc;i!i.'i jiapa) 

 really occurs on our southern border, but this remains to be determined. (See Bartram, Trav. in Fla., p. 150 ; 

 Cass., B. N. A., p. G ; Coues, Proc. Fhila. Acad., 1866, p. 49 ; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, ii, 1871, p. 313 ; Coues, 

 Bull. Nutt. Club, vi, 1881, p. 218.) 



V. Order COLUMB^: Columbine Birds. 



An essential character of birds typical of this group is fouud in the structure of the bill, 

 which is horny and convex at the tip, somewhat contracted in the continuity, furnished at the 

 base with a tumid membrane in which the nostrils open. There arc four toes ; three anterior, 

 generally cleft to the base, but occasionally with slight webbing ; one behind, with few exoep- 

 tions perfectly insistent or not obviously elevated. The feet are never much lengthened ; the 

 tarsus is commonly shorter than the toes, either scuteUate or extensively feathered, reticulate 

 on the sides and behind, the envelope rather membranous than corneous. (One N. Am. genus, 

 Starncetias, has entirely reticulate tarsus and elevated hallux.) On the whole, the feet are inses- 

 sorial, not rasorial ; the liabit is arboreal, not terrestrial ; but there are many gi'ound pigeons, 

 some quite fowl-lilte ; and progression is always gradient, never saltatory. The wings and tail 

 do not afford ordinal characters; but it maybe remarked that the rectrices are usually (not 

 always) 12 or 14 instead of the higher- numbers usual in gallinaceous birds ; and that the wings 

 are usually long and fiat, not short and vaulted. The plumage is destitute of aftershafts (qu. 

 Didus? small aftershafts in Pterocletesf). The syrinx has one pair of intrinsic muscles, if any 

 (none in Pterocletes) . The oil-gland is nude, wlien present (small in Treron, etc.; wanting in 

 Goura, Starncenas). The gall-bladder is generally absent (present exceptionally in some true 

 Pigeons). The coeca are absent; or present, but small. There are two carotids. The gizzard 

 is muscular. There are many good osteological characters. The palate is sobizognathous. 

 The nasal bones are schizorhinal. The sternum is doubly notched, or notched and fenestrate, 

 on each side ; the pectoral ridge of the humerus is salient and acute, and does not receive the 

 insertion of the second pectoral muscle. The ambiens muscle is normally present, the birds 

 being unquestionably homalogonatous ; but is sometimes lost; the femoro-caudal, accessory 

 femoro-caudal, semitendinosus, and accessory semitendinosus are present ; the fourth glutseal 

 muscle, which in other schizorhinal birds covers the femur-head, is undeveloped (Garrod). 



Some ornithologists, lilse Liljeborg, enlarge the Columbine order, under name of Pullas- 

 trce, to receive the American Curassows, (Cracida — see beyond) and the Old Worid Big-feet 

 or Mound-birds {Megapodida) ; mainly on account, it would appear, of the low position of 

 the hallux in these families. But the balance of characters favors their reference to the galli- 

 naceous series, where they are relegated by Huxley. While there is no question that the 

 Columbine birds are very closely related to the Galline, in fact inosculating therewith, it 



36 



