344 CHARADRIIFORMES chap. 



C. leucocephcda, and so forth, are Wood-Pigeons ; C. livia, C. 

 schimperi, 0. ajinis, C. intermedia, and C. leuconota are true Eock- 

 Pigeons ; 0. oenas and its nearest allies being somewhat inter- 

 mediate. C. rufina, extending from Guatemala to Peru and Brazil, 

 and G. speciosa, ranging further north to Mexico, are especially 

 ruddy ; C. ianthina, of Japan and the Liu-Kiu Islands, is unusually 

 metallic ; O. grisea, of Borneo and Sumatra, is mainly light grey ; 

 C. polleni, of the Comoro Islands, olive-brown ; C. arquatrix, of 

 Eastern and South-Western Africa, is flecked with white above 

 and below ; C. speciosa, only on the hind neck ; G. guinea, of 

 Western and North-Eastern Africa, has bifurcated neck-feathers 

 and triangular white wing-spots ; C. leucocepJicda, of the Florida 

 Keys, Bahamas, Antilles, and Honduras, and G. leucomela, of East 

 Australia, have the crown, and the latter the neck and under parts 

 white ; G. leuconota, the " Snow-Pigeon " of Kashmir, Yarkand, 

 and Tibet, has the neck, lower back, and breast white; 

 G. palumhus, our Eing-Dove, Wood-Pigeon, Cushat, or Queest, 

 the habits of which are universally known, extends through the 

 Palaearctic Eegion from Madeira and the Azores to Persia ; it 

 differs from the smaller and darker Stock-Dove (C oenas), of the 

 same Eegion eastward to Turkestan, by the white patches on the 

 sides of its neck and the white wing-bar. G. livia, the Eock- 

 Dove, from which our domestic races have sprung, is easily 

 distinguishable from other British species by the white rump and 

 the two black alar bands. The breeding habits of our native birds, 

 and the damage done by flocks of Wood-Pigeons, partly composed 

 of immigrants, have already been mentioned (p. 328). Columba 

 laurivora and G. bollii, which lays but one egg, are peculiar to 

 the Canary Islands ; G. tniraz to Madeira, G. torringtoniae to Ceylon, 

 G. palumbo'ides to the Andamans and ISTicobars, G. metallica to 

 Timor, G. gym^ioplithahna, apparently to Curasao, Aruba, and 

 Bonaire, and several forms to Samoa, the Liu-Kiu, Bonin, Fiji, 

 and other groups. C araucana reaches the Straits of Magellan. 



Gymnophaps albertisi, of Xew Guinea, is grey, with whitish 

 breast,purplish-chestnut under parts elsewhere,and naked red orbits. 



Sub-fam. 4. Treroninae. — This includes the Fruit-Pigeons in 

 the widest sense, natives of the Old World, of which the bigger are 

 contained in the first eight genera. HcTniphaga novae zealandiae, 

 of New Zealand, is green, with brilliant coppery reflexions, 

 brownish -purple back, and white abdomen ; I£. spadicea, of 



