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Genus PTILINOPUS, — Sn'.iis^soN. 
Nearly allied to the Thick-billed Pigeons or 
Vinago, in the fonn of the feet, arboreal habits, and 
prerailing dispositions of colours, we 6nd another 
extensive group inhabiting the tropical forests of In- 
dia anrl Australia, and the islands of the Pacific, but 
differing from that genus in the weakness and slender 
structure of their bill, which member approaches 
neai-er in form to that of the typical pigeons. To 
this group, taken collectively, Mr Swainson, in the 
first volume of the Zoological Journal, in an inte- 
resting paper containing observations on the Colum- 
bidse, has given the title of Ptilinopus ; but as he there 
points out the different structure of the wing, in re- 
gard to the form of the first quill-feather, as it exists 
in the Coliimba purpurata. Lath., and Col. mag- 
nifica, Temm., he proceeds to observe, that it may 
be necessary still further to subdivide it. This, up- 
on an investigation and analysis of a variety of spe- 
cies, we feel inclined to do, restricting the generic 
title of Ptilinopus to that group of smaller pigeons 
in which the first quill-feather becomes suddenly nar- 
rowed or attenuated towards the tip, and the tarsi 
are feathered almost to the division of the toes. 
This group is typically represented by the Col. pur- 
purata of Lath., and also contains two beautiful spe- 
