PIGEON. 101 



126- CRESCENT-BREASTED PIGEON. 



LENGTH ten inches. Bill dusky red ; round the eye bare and 

 bluish ; general colour of the plumage above rusty brownish black ; 

 forehead and chin pale rufous, or buff-colour; feathers of the crown 

 rather elevated ; on the breast, before the wing, a clay-coloured 

 crescent, beginning on each side of the neck ; and below this, from 

 the bend of each wing a second ; belly clay-colour, the lower part 

 variegated with curved black marks as far as the vent ; thighs black ; 

 tail cuneiform, four inches long, the two middle feathers plain 

 brownish black, the others the same, tipped with white ; the wings 

 reach to about the middle ; legs pale red. 



This was met with in a collection of drawings, with no account 

 annexed, but supposed to come from America. 



127— BLACK-WINGED PIGEON. 



Columba rnelanoptera, Ind. Orn. ii. 015. Gm. Lin. i. 790. Mo/in. Chil. 308. Id. 



Ft. edit. 215. 

 Pigeon sauvage, Voy. d'Azara, iv. p. 129. No. 319. 

 Colombe melanoptere, Temm. Pig. 2de. Suite, Id. 8vo. i. p. 359. 

 Black-winged Pigeon, Gen. Syn. Sup. ii. 271. 



THE short description of this bird, from Molina, merely tells us, 

 that it is found in Chili, and of a bluish grey colour ; black quills, 

 and a wedge-shaped tail ; but M. d'Azara describes one more at 

 large, probably the same, from Paraguay, twelve inches long, with 

 a cuneiform tail ; the bill black ; irides of two circles, the inner ash- 

 colour, the outer garnet ; fore part of the head, neck, throat, and 

 lesser wing coverts inclining to violet ; behind the head deep rufous, 

 and gilded in some lights with green and crimson ; wings and tail 



