Band-tailed Pigeon 157 
covered by a soft skin, forming what is called a cere. 
There are eleven primaries ; the number of tail-feathers 
varies from twelve to twenty; the hind toe, which is 
always present, is jointed on a level with the other toes, 
The young, when hatched, are naked and helpless, and 
are entirely dependent on their parents for some con- 
siderable time. 
There are only three Pigeons found in Colorado; they 
can be distinguished as follows :— 
Key oF THE SPECIES. 
A. Large—wing 8 to 9; a rounded tail and a white collar. 
Columba fasciata, p. 157. 
B. Smaller—wing 6 to 7. 
a. Tail wedge-shaped ; black spots on the scapulars. 
Zenaidura m. carolinensis, p. 159. 
b. Tailrounded ; a white patch on the wing. 
Melopelia asiatica, p. 161. 
Genus COLUMBA. 
Bill somewhat short and stout; the soft basal portion rounded ; 
no black spots on the scapulars; tail of twelve feathers about } the 
length of wing, nearly even, the feathers broad and rounded ; 
tarsus about half feathered and scutellate. 
A cosmopolitan genus with a very large number of species ; only two 
are at all common in the United States. 
Band-tailed Pigeon. Columba fasciata. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 312—Colorado Records—Say 23, ii. p. 10; 
Henshaw 75, p. 429; Drew 85, p. 17; Morrison 89, p. 6; Kellogg 90, 
p. 87; Lowe 94, p. 267; H. G. Smith 96, p. 65; Cooke 97, pp. 72, 
160, 203; Dille 09, p. 87; Henderson 09, p. 228. 
Description.—Male—Head all round and under-parts lavender-grey, 
paling to white on the abdomen and under tail-coverts; a narrow 
white half-collar on the nape ; back slaty-blue becoming dusky on the 
wings, and with a patch of iridescent green behind the collar; tail 
with a dusky black transverse band, the terminal portion paler than the 
back ; eye with a red ring, bill yellow, black at the tip ; legs yellow. 
Length 14-0; wing 8-25; tail 4-75; culmen -7; tarsus 1-0. 
The female is like the male but rather duller; the lavender of the 
head and under-parts is obscured by brown, and the white collar and 
