Reptiles and Birds / A Popular Account of Their Various Orders, With a Description of the Habits and Economy of the Most Interesting

by Louis Figuier

Colombi-Gallines.

A certain number of birds rank in this family, which, with the general forms of Pigeons, still preserve the habits of Gallinaceans; hence the mixed name of Colombi-Gallines. Thus they constantly live on the earth, build their nests there, and only take refuge upon trees to pass the night or escape from danger. They run perfectly, but fly badly, and are sedentary; lastly, some species have cephalic nudities and fleshy appendages, or long, movable feathers round the neck like the male of the Domestic Fowl. Physically they are characterised by a slight and straight beak, and by rather high tarsi. This family comprises a very large number of species spread throughout Central and South America, the isles of the Indian Ocean, and a great part of Africa. The compass of this work will not permit us to examine all: we will merely mention the most remarkable, the Great Crowned Pigeon (Columba coronata, Latham), very common in New Guinea and the Moluccas. The plumage of this bird is of a beautiful greyish blue; its head is ornamented with a pretty plume of straight, long, and tapering feathers; it is about the size of a Domestic Fowl, and very highly esteemed for the qualities of its flesh; consequently the inhabitants of the above islands raise it in their poultry-yards ([Fig. 181]).

Fig. 181.—Crowned Goura (Phasianus cristatus indicus, Latham).