PHEASANT-TAILED PIGEON. 
12J 
loped ; the sole of the foot, by the extension of the 
membrane, is broad and expansive, and the claws 
are arched and strong, all of which are chai’actera 
evidently shewing these members to be expressly 
adapted for perching and prehension, and not for gres- 
sorial movements. The bill also in one species (C. 
Reinwartii) approaches in point of strength near to 
that of Vinago, and in all of them the tip of both 
mandibles is hard and firm, the upper one with a vi- 
sible emargination, and moderately arched. Their 
habits and mode of life are also nearly allied to the 
other arboreal species, being the constant inhabitants 
of the woods, and subsisting upon the fruits and ber- 
ries of various trees and shrubs. 
M. Temrainck in his description of this species, 
says that it possesses a structure and form precisely 
similar to that of tlie Columba migratoria of North 
America. To this we cannot subscribe, seeing that its 
essential characters, as above described, are different, 
and that the only point of resemblance consists in 
the length of the tail. Indeed, so far removed do we 
think it from the American group, that we cannot 
consider it as its analogue in the Asiatic regions 
where it resides. 
In length it measures from fourteen to sixteen 
inches, the tail itself being upwards of seven. The 
wings are short, not reaching when closed above an 
inch and a half beyond the root of the tail, rounded, 
and having the third quill-feather the longest, and 
the first and fourth equal to each other. The bill, 
