160 
COLUMBA ZENAIDA. 
over the whole crown, not more on one part than 
another ; thus never admitting' of a restricted hand or 
line, as in that much lighter coloured bird. 
Another species closely allied to, and perhaps iden- 
tical with, our band-tailed pigeon, (though we have 
equally good reasons for believing it the Columba 
rafina of Temminck,) and of which we have not yet 
been able to procure specimens, is also well known to 
breed on the Florida keys, whither probably almost all 
the West Indian species occasionally resort. 
40 . COLUMBA ZENAIDA , BONAPARTE. — ZENAIDA PIGEON. 
BONAPARTE, PLATE XVII. FIG. II. 
The name of dove is not commonly used to designate 
a systematic group, but is employed for all the small 
pigeons indiscriminately, whilst the larger doves are 
known as pigeons. Even this distinction of size, 
however, does not seem to be agreed upon, as we find 
authors calling the larger species doves, and the smaller 
ones pigeons, and sometimes even applying both appel- 
lations to different sexes or ages of the same species, as 
in the case of the common American pigeon, Columba 
migratoria . This extensive family of birds, so remark- 
able for richness and splendour of colours — so important 
as contributing largely to supply the wants of mankind — 
so interesting as forming so perfect a link between the 
two great divisions of the feathered tribes — has been 
divided, on more philosophical principles, into three i 
groups, which some naturalists consider as genera, and 
others as subgenera, or sections. Of these two only 
are found represented in America ; the third, a very 
natural group, being confined to Africa and the large I 
eastern islands of the old world. That to which the 
present bird, and all the North American species but 
one, belong, is the most typical of all, being characterized 
by a straight and slender bill, both mandibles of which 
are soft and flexible, and the upper turgid towards the 
end; by their short tarsi, divided toes, and long, acute 
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