NEW GENERA OF COLUMBIDyE. 



161 



"Wings short, not rounded, 3, 4, 5 quills sub-equal and longest ; central 

 primaries with their tips wavily truncated. 



Tail 14, long, strong and square ; tarsi very low,* and plumed nearly 

 to the toes laterally, less in front ; toes depressed with broad flat soles ;* 

 lateral fores sub-equal, hind large ; nails strong, arched and acuminated ;* 

 central and hind equal, lateral fores equal, less ; orbits nude ; plumage 

 simple. The above is a tedious character, but it is a distinct one. Those 

 who love more summary proceedings may perhaps approve the following : 



" Bill and wings as in Goura ; legs and feet as in Vinago'' But the fact 

 is that the bill of our bird, nearly as it resembles that of Goura, is clearly 

 distinguishable therefrom, by less compression, a fainter grooving, and a 

 more tumid nasal tect. The wings, again, with the same general character, 

 are strikingly marked by the singular truncate angulation or curve at the 

 points of the central primaries. 



In like manner, the feet, though exclusively adapted for perching, and 

 consequently framed strictly upon the model of the same organs in Vinago,^ 

 (and Ptitinopus ), differ therefrom by the subequality of the lateral fore toes, 

 and by the absence of that extreme and sudden acumination of the nails 

 which distinguishes them in that genus. The wings of our birds differ 

 entirely from those of Vinago ; the latter being longer, conspicuously acu- 

 minated, with sharp narrow primaries (3) analogous to those of the lesser 

 Indian Bustard. In our bird there is no acumination of the wings : the 



* These characters, I admit, belong rather to the sub-family than to any genus or sub- 

 genus of it (see note in the sequel) : but, so long as the sub-family continues to be vaguely 

 defined, its genera must be defined diffusely. On this principle I ?«iy;/t^ add, that the toes of 

 our genus are cleft : but the fact is, this is a character co-extensive with the whole family ; and 

 reiteration must have some limits. 



t It is a strange misinterpretation of the language of CuviER, (I suppf*»'e,) which led 

 Stevens to assign toes connected by membrane to Vinago. They are cleft th'^ngh iort/cm/; that 

 is, the edges arc spread laterally by the depression of the soles. There something so decided 

 and necessarily iailuential in the exclusively perching feet of the Vinagina, that I consider this 

 character the diagnosis of the sub-family ; and I class our bin' " itli tlio Vinagince, notwith- 

 standing the extreme feebleness of its bill, because its feet are utterly unsuited to walking. 



Q 



