BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 277 



KEY TO THE SUBORDERS OF COLTJMBIFORMES. 



o. Wings well-developed, adapted for flight; furcula fully developed; basipterygoid 



processes present Columbse(p.277). 



aa. Wings rudimentary, not adapted for flight; furcula greatly reduced; basiptery- 

 goid processes absent Raphi (extralimital and extinct). 



Suborder COLUMB^. 



THE PIGEONS. 



=Columbae Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857, 5 — Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. 

 Surv., ix, 1858, 595.— Sclater and Salvin, Norn. Av. Neotr., 1873, 132.— 

 Elliot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, Birds, 1884, 237.— American Ornithologists' 

 Union, Check List, 1886, 178 (and later editions).— Erne way, Man. N. Am. 

 Birds, 1887, 2, 210.— Sharps, Rev. Rec. Att. Class. Birds, 1891, 70; Hand- 

 list, i, 1899, xi, 51.— Salvabori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxi, 1893, xi, 2 (Sub- 

 order). — Beddard, Struct, and Classif. Birds, 1898, 305. — Salvin and God- 

 man, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, iii, 1902, 231. 



<£olumbae Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868, 311, 313 (excludes Didunculus). 



<ZPleiodi Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857, 5 (Didunculus only). — Carus, 

 Handb. Zool., i, 1868, 311, 313. 



<S3yrantes Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857, 5 (excludes Didunculus). 

 Giratores Blatnvllle, Bull. Soc. Phil., 1816, 110; Journ. d'Phys., lxxxiii, 1816, 

 252. 



=Columbidx Lilljeborg, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1866, 15. — Baird, Brewer, 

 and Rldgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, iii, 1874, 357. — American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, Check List 1886, 178 (and later editions). — Fuerbringer, 

 Untera. Morph. Syst. V6g., ii, 1888, 1278.— Gadow, Bronn's Tbier-Reich, 

 V6g., ii, 1891, 210, 300; Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 35.— Oberholser, Outl. 

 Classif. N. Am. Birds, 1905, 3.— Knowlton, Birds of the World, 1909, 50, 413. 



Columbiforjnes capable of more or less powerful flight, possessing 

 well-developed fucula and basipterygoid processes. 



Bill more or less plover-like, usually relatively small and slender 

 (stout in some forms, especially genera Didunculus and Butreron), 

 consisting of two dissimilar portions: a more or less tumid basal part, 

 covered by a soft skin in which are situated the narrow, longitudinal or 



<• =Didusidae Lesson, L'Echo du Monde Savant, 9 e arm., vi, ser. 2, no. 44, Dec. 8, 



1842, col. 1036. 

 >Inepti Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, Oct., 1854, 1 (includes Aepiornis, Orni- 



thaptera, Didus, and Cyanornis). 

 =Inepti Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868, 313. 



^>Didinae Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, Oct., 1854, 1 (=Inepti Bonaparte). 

 =Didi Sharpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 70; Hand-list, i, 1899, xii, 92; 



Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxi, 1893, xvii, 628. 

 =Dididae Fuerbringer, Unters. Morph. Syst. Vog., ii, 1888, 1567. — Knowlton, Birds 



of the World, 1909, 50, 409. 



The birds of this suborder are all extinct though existing as late as 1693 in the 

 case of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus) or even later (about 1729) in the case of the 

 Solitaire (Pezophaps solitarius). They were very large, flightless birds, confined to 

 the Mascarene Islands, near Madagascar, each of the three islands of Mauritius, 

 Reunion, and Rodriguez possessing its peculiar species. 



