224 COLUMBID^, PIGEONS. 



istic function of mammalia. "Tlie voice of tlie turtle is heard in the land" as a 

 j)laintive cooing, so characteristic as to have afforded another name for the family, 

 Gemitores. Pigeons are altricial, and monogamous — doublj' monogamous, as is said 

 when both sexes incubate and care for the young ; this is a strong trait, compared 

 ■with the prfficocial and often polj'gamous nature of rasorial birds. They are amorous 

 birds whose passion general!}' results in a tender and constant devotion, edifying to 

 contemplate, but is often marked by high irascibility and pugnaeitj' — traits at 

 variance with the amiable meekness which doves are supposed to sj'mbolize. The 

 nest, as a rule, is a rude, frail, flat structure of twigs ; the eggs are usually two in 

 number, sometimes one, white. 



"The entire number of pigeons known to exist is about 300 ; of these the 

 Malaj' Archipelago already counts 118, while only 28 are found in India, 23 in Aus- 

 tralia, less than 40 in Africa, and not more than 80 in the whole of America." 

 They focus in the small district of which New Guinea is the centre, where more 

 than a fourth of the species occur. Mr. Wallace accounts for this by the absence 

 of frait-eating forest mammals, such as monkej'S and squirrels ; and finds in the 

 converse the reason \i\\y pigeons are so scarce in the Amazon valley, and there 

 chieflj' represented by species feeding much on the ground and breeding in the 

 bushes lower than monke3's habitual]}' descend. "In the Malay countries, also, 

 there are no great families of fruit- eating Passeres, and their place seems to be 

 taken by the true fruit-pigeons, wliich, unchecked by rivals or enemies, often form with 

 the Psittad the prominent and characteristic features of the Avifauna." (Neavton.) 



There are three prominent groups of pigeons. The Treroninca are exclusively 

 frugivorous and arboricole species, with short, soft, broad-soled and extensively 

 feathered feet, 14 rectrices, and soft lustreless plumage, of which green is the 

 characteristic color. These are all Old World ; the genera are Treron and Ptilono- 

 pus, with their subdivisions ; " 54 species are confined to the Austro-Malayan, 

 while 28 inhabit the ludo-Malayan, subregion ; in India 14, and in Africa 6 species 

 are found ; 30 inhabit the Pacific Islands, and 8 occur in Australia or New Zealand, 

 while New Guinea has 14 species." (Wallace.) The Gourince are more or less 

 terrestrial species, of both hemispheres, embracing a Considerable number of more 

 varied generic forms. In the New Guinean Goura coronata there are 16 rectrices, 

 and the head is crested ; in the singular Cakenas oiicobarica, feathers of the upper 

 parts are acuminate, elongate and even pendulous ; each of these is sometimes 

 made the type of a family. There arc se'^'eral other Old World forms, such as 

 Tragon, Phajjs, Henicophajys, Geopliaps, Lop)hophaps, Ocypliaps and Chalcopiliaps ; 

 our genus Starruxnas is an interesting American one. The Columbinw are the 

 least specialized and most generally distributed group, comprising numerous species 

 of which the domestic pigeon {Columba livia) is a type. Of these the Australian 

 Loplwlcumus antarcticus, if really belonging here, is one of the most peculiar ; 

 Carpophaga and Turtur are leading Old World genera. The North American 

 genera, excepting the first two following, are probably Gourhixe in the cun-cnt 

 acceptation of that term ; but in the uncertainty attending its precise limitation as 

 compared with Columbince, I shall not attempt to distinguish subfamilies. In gen. 

 167-8 the tarsi are short and slightly feathered above, a characteristic of arboricole 

 pigeons ; in the rest, longer and entirely naked, as usual in the terrestrial species ; 

 and in many of these there is a naked space above the eyes. The males of nearly 

 all our species show a beautiful iridescence on the neck ; the sexes are distinguish- 

 able by color ; tlie young resembles the female. 



