Genus COLUMBA

This is the typical genus of the Columbine order, and contains the Bock-Pigeons or Rock-Doves and their allies. The Wood: Pigeons have been alternately in eluded in the genus, as in Salvadori's Catalogue, and classed apart; but the latter plan is here followed, as according better with the generic arrangement adopted in other orders. The division of this group of Pigeons into genera of equal value is a difficult task, although simpler when only the Pigeons of a restricted area need arrangement than when all the known species require to be classified.

In the genus as here defined the corneous portion of the bill is slender, the soft basal part swollen above the nostrils, which are linear and oblique ; the wings are long and pointed, 2nd quill longest (except in C. rupestris, in which the 1st exceeds the 2nd), 1st much longer than 4th; the tarsus is naked and longer than the bill from the gape, and the feet are formed for walking, the toes being slender and the soles narrow. The tail is short, scarcely projecting beyond the ends of the closed wings, and measuring half as much as the wing in length or a little more. Sexes alike. Plumage chiefly grey, with distinct black or dusky cross-bars on the secondaries and their coverts.

The Rock-Pigeons associate in large flocks and mostly make their nests on rocks or buildings. The Stock-Doves make nests in the hollows of trees or in rabbit-burrows.

Key to the Species.

a. Neck-feathers with metallic gloss; lower parts grey.
a1. Bill blackish; legs red. a2. No white hand across tail.
a3. Lower back grey like rump………………………..C. intermedia, p. 29.
b3. Lower back white………………………..C. livia, p. 30.
b2. A white band across tail………………………..C. rupestris, p. 30.
b1. Bill and legs yellowish………………………..C. eversmanni, p. 31.
b. Neck and lower parts white, no metallic gloss………………………..C. leuconota, p. 32.