. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. COLUMB^. ^^ DOVES AND HE large order of Columb^, or the Pigeon tribe, comes now under our notice. It contains very many beautiful and interesting birds ; but as its members are so" extremely numerous, only a few typical examples can be mentioned in these pages. All the Pigeons may be distinguished from the poultry, and the gallinaceous birds in general, by the form of the bill, which is arched towards the tip, and has a convex swelling at the base, caused by a gristly kind
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. COLUMB^. ^^ DOVES AND HE large order of Columb^, or the Pigeon tribe, comes now under our notice. It contains very many beautiful and interesting birds ; but as its members are so" extremely numerous, only a few typical examples can be mentioned in these pages. All the Pigeons may be distinguished from the poultry, and the gallinaceous birds in general, by the form of the bill, which is arched towards the tip, and has a convex swelling at the base, caused by a gristly kind of plate which covers the nasal cavities, and which in some species is very curiously de\eloped. In order to enable the parent birds to feed their young, the gullet swells into a double crop, furnished with certain large glands during the breeding season, which mingle their secretions with the food,, and soften it, so that when the bird throws up the food after its fashion, to feed its young,, the whole mass has acquired a soft and pulpy consistence, suitable to the delicate digestive powers of the tender young. Other peculiarities of form mil be found in the Appendix to this volume. In their habits, the Pigeons greatly resemble each other, mostly haunting trees, but sometimes preferring the soU. as a hunting-ground. Generally, the family likeness between ^ the Pigeons is sufficiently strong to enable even a novice to know a Pigeon when he sees it; but there are one or two remarkable exceptions to this rule, such as the Dodo and the Tooth- billed Pigeons, birds which need careful examination to be recognized as belonging to the present order. The powers of wing are generally very great, the Pigeons being proverbially swift and enduring; but even this rule has its exceptions. They are found in almost aU parts of the globe, being most plentifid in tlie warmer regions. In this country the colors of the Pigeons, although soft and pleasing, and in some portions of the bird, such as
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
