GREAT CROWNED PIGEON. 
There are several minor varieties of Pi- 
geons, which it is neither necessary, nor suit- 
able to our limits, to notice. We cannot, how- 
ever, close our sketch of this beautiful order, 
without mentioning the most magnificent bird 
which it comprises, — the Columba coronata of 
Linnaeus, or Great Crowned Pigeon. In size it 
is nearly equal to the turkey : the greater part 
of its plumage is of a fine purple, or bluish ash 
colour ; the middle of the back, and the coverts 
of the wings, are of a dark reddish brick co- 
lour; these together, says Edwards, form a 
kind of saddle across the upper part of the 
bird : some of the first row of covert-feathers, 
above the quills, are white, with red tips ; the 
remainder of the row is ash coloured. The 
eye is of a beautiful red, and placed in the 
centre of a broad space of black, which passes 
backward from the upper mandible, and ends 
