WOOD- PIGEON. 
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by a soft skin, in which the nostrils open, overhung by an 
incumbent valve. (Cf. Salvador!, Cat. B. Bnt. Mus. xxi. 
Pigeons are found over the greater part of the g'obe, and 
they are divided by Count Salvador! mto five fam'bes. 
Treromda (Fruit - Pigeons), Col?mbid<^ (Irut Pjgeons) 
Peristerida (Ground-Pigeons), Goundce (Crowned Prgeons), 
and Didunculida (Tooth-billed P!geons.) 
THE TRUE PIGEONS. FAMILY COLUMBID^. 
These Pigeons have a rather short tarsus, generally shorter 
than the middle toe. In this respect they show that ‘^ey 
Tree-Pi'^eons, as opposed to the Fertsicridtz or G 
Piaeonsfand they have a near relationship to the Trerontdce or 
Fruit- Pigeons. The latter, however, have very broad soles to 
the feet and have from fourteen to s!xteen tail-feathers, 
whereas ’the Columbidce have the soles normal and not very 
broad, the hind-toe only with the skin prominently expanded 
on the sides, while the tail-feathers are twelve in number. (Cf. 
^^Count'’Sa{vadorr divides the family Columbidce into three sub- 
families-the Columbince, with the tail of moderate length not 
longer than the wings, and the Miero/ygunce and EdoptsUnce, 
in which the tail is longer than the wings. 
THE WOOD-PIGEONS. GENUS COLUMBA. 
Columba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 279 (1766). 
Type, C. Uvia (Bonn.). 
In this genus the tail is shorter than the wing, and the 
tarsus is feathered for a small extent on the upper half, but not 
for more than half its length. 
About sixty different kinds of Wood-Pigeon are known, and 
theVare found in every part of the Old World, and throughout 
the New World also, except in the more northern parts. 
I. THE WOOD-PIGEON. COLUMBA PALUMBUS. 
Columba palumbus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 282 (1766); M^acgill. 
Brit. B. i. p. 259(1837); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 3. pb 45^ 
L5 ^ 
