PIGEONS AND DOVES 
281 
XI. ORDER COLUMBiE. PIGEONS AND DOVES 
33. Family Columbhle. Pigeons and Doves. (Fig. 45.) 
The 650 odd species contained in the Order Columbce are placed by 
Salvadori in five families as follows: (1) Trkronidce or Fruit Pigeons, 
restricted largely to the Malayan region, 212 species; (2) Columbidce, 
the true Pigeons, distributed throughout the world, 120 species, of 
which no less than 70 are contained in the genus Columba ; (3) Peris - 
teridce or Doves, distributed throughout the world, but more numerous 
in the tropics, 312 species; (4) Gouridce or Crowned Pigeons of New 
Guinea, 8 species, and (5) Didunculidce, containing only the Toothed 
Pigeon of Samoa. 
The Family Columbidce of the A. O. U. Check-List contains repre- 
sentatives of both the Columbidce and Peristeridce as grouped by Sal- 
vadori, which, in North America, number twelve species. The birds 
of this order differ widely in their choice of haunts. Some are strictly 
arboreal, others as strictly terrestrial. Some seek the forests and others 
prefer fields and clearings. Some nest in colonies, others in isolated 
pairs, but most species are found in flocks of greater or less size after 
the breeding season. When drinking, they do not raise the head as 
most birds do to swallow, but keep the bill immersed until the draught 
is finished. The eggs number two, rarely one, and are white or creamy 
in color. Both sexes incubate, the male’s daily period, so far as known, 
being from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The young are born naked, and are 
fed by regurgitation on predigested food, or ‘Pigeons’ milk’ from the 
crop of the parent. 
1898. Whitman, C. O., Animal Behavior, Biol. Lecture M. B. L, 314 et 
seq. (Ginn & Co.). — 1908. Craig, W., The Voices of Pigeons Regarded as a 
Means of Social Control, Am. Journ. Soc., XIV, 86-100. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
A. Tail widely tipped with white or grayish white. 
a. Tail pointed. 
a 1 . Back or rump bluish slate-color . . 315. Passenger Pigeon. 
a 2 . Back olive grayish brown . . . . 316. Mourning Dove. 
b. Tail slightly rounded 317. Zenaida Dove. 
B. Tail not tipped with white. 
a. Upperparts dark slate-color . . . 314. White-crowned Pigeon 
b. Upperparts not slate color. 
6 1 . Upperparts rufous with purplish reflections. 
b 2 . Line below the eye and belly white or whitish . 322. Quail Dove 
6 3 . Line under the eye and belly buffy ochraceous. 
322.1. Ruddy Quail Dove 
c 1 . Upperparts grayish olive-brown. 
c 2 . Crown blue, a white line below the eye. 
323. Blue-headed Quail Dove 
c 3 . Crown pinkish or like the back . . . 320. Ground Dove 
314. Columba leucoeephala Linn . White-crowned Pigeon. Ad. 
cf. — Rich slate-color; crown white; back of head purplish chestnut; back 
of neck with greenish reflections, each feather with a black border. Ad.q. — - 
