Group (g).–The seventh section of the Peristerinae is characterized by metallic spots near the ear-coverts and an iridescent gloss on the sides of the neck. Melopelia leucoptera, found from Texas to Costa Rica and the West Indies, and the very similar M. meloda of Peru and Chili, have a white wing-patch. One of the notes resembles a cock's crow. Nesopelia, of the Galápagos, links these closely to Zenaida, with six members, found from the Florida Keys, Yucatan, and the Antilles, through South America to Patagonia. Z. amabilis, the Pea- or Mountain-Dove of the islands from the Florida Keys to Antigua, is reddish-olive, with vinous head and breast, two peacock-blue ear-spots, black blotches on the scapulars and wing-coverts, black remiges, and a white band across the secondaries. Chiefly terrestrial, it roosts and nests either on trees or on the ground, the flight being swift, and the note very soft. Zenaidura carolinensis, the Mourning-Dove of North America, including Southern Canada, is not unlike the above, but has the crown, sides of the body, and edges of the wings blue, and in the male the breast purplish. Small flocks often frequent the neighbourhood of houses, while the flight is strong, the note guttural and melancholy, the food of grain, berries, acorns, shoots of plants, and apparently worms. The nest is placed indifferently on the earth or aloft.
Sub-fam. 3. Columbinae.–Ectopistes migratorius, the well-known Passenger-Pigeon, breeds in eastern North America, chiefly in Canada and the adjoining United States, and wanders to the Pacific and Cuba. Its immense colonies are seemingly a thing of the past, though as lately as 1888 a northward flight crossed Michigan, where in 1878, at Petosky, the "roost," or area occupied, is said to have been twenty-eight miles long by three or four broad. The trees were often laden with nests, and during a stay of five weeks several millions of birds are stated to have been captured, chiefly by means of nets and decoys; though earlier authors, such as Wilson, mention many different methods of slaughter. The parents were very noisy, and covered vast distances in search of food; but, save for the sharp call-note, and the single egg, the other habits were as in most arboreal Pigeons.
Coryphoenas crassirostris, of the Solomon Islands, a slate-coloured species with brownish head and crest, resembles in its very stout bill and long graduated rectrices Reinwardtoenas reinwardti, ranging from Celebes to Papuasia, and R. browni, of the Duke of York Island and New Britain. In the two last-named the head is grey, the under parts are white, and the naked orbits red, the former having the back chestnut, the latter black. Closely allied are the two dozen Pheasant-like members of Macropygia, with elongated wedge-shaped tails, from the Indian and Australian Regions, which have rich chestnut, purplish-brown, or cinnamon plumage, with darker shading and iridescent sheen, chiefly confined to the upper surface. The head is usually lighter, the under parts are often buff or vinaceous, and the irides parti-coloured; the naked orbits vary in tint. Inhabiting bushy country or hills up to about eight thousand feet, they fly but short distances, feeding upon the ground on seeds and berries, and uttering a loud monotonous note. M. tusalia, the Cuckoo-Dove, occurs from North India to West China; M. leptogrammica inhabits the Malay Countries; several other species carry the range to the Moluccas; M. tenuirostris occupies the Philippine and Sulu Islands; M. phasianella the eastern half of Australia; M. doreya and so forth New Guinea and its islands; M. rufa the New Hebrides; M. rufo-castanea the Solomons. The two last-named have bifurcated breast-feathers.
Turacoena menadensis, of Celebes, the Togian and Sula Islands, is slate-black with golden-green occiput, neck, and breast, white face and throat, and naked red orbits; T. modesta, of Timor, has the orbits yellow, and lacks the white. Turturoena delegorgii, of Natal, is slaty-black, with a chestnut mantle surmounted by a white band, lilac and green reflexions on the occiput, neck, and chest, vinous under parts, and bare pink orbits. The female is brownish-grey, having a cinnamon head and nape glossed with green, but no white collar. T. sharpii, of East Equatorial Africa, differs in its green crown and nuchal region; T. iriditorques, found from the Gaboon to Liberia, lacks the white band, and has the lateral rectrices tipped with buff; Nesoenas mayeri, of Mauritius, is reddish-brown, with pink head, neck, and lower surface.
The cosmopolitan genus Columba contains nearly sixty members, of which comparatively few inhabit the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions; the general coloration is blue, relieved by black and rufous, or a metallic red and green sheen. Want of space forbids a description of every form, and the following are in no definite order: but C. palumbus, C. laurivora, C. bollii, C. trocaz, C. leucocephala, and so forth, are Wood-Pigeons; C. livia, C. schimperi, C. affinis, C. intermedia, and C. leuconota are true Rock-Pigeons; C. oenas and its nearest allies being somewhat intermediate. C. rufina, extending from Guatemala to Peru and Brazil, and C. speciosa, ranging further north to Mexico, are especially ruddy; C. ianthina, of Japan and the Liu-Kiu Islands, is unusually metallic; C. grisea, of Borneo and Sumatra, is mainly light grey; C. polleni, of the Comoro Islands, olive-brown; C. arquatrix, of Eastern and South-Western Africa, is flecked with white above and below; C. speciosa, only on the hind neck; C. guinea, of Western and North-Eastern Africa, has bifurcated neck-feathers and triangular white wing-spots; C. leucocephala, of the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Antilles, and Honduras, and C. leucomela, of East Australia, have the crown, and the latter the neck and under parts white; C. leuconota, the "Snow-Pigeon" of Kashmir, Yarkand, and Tibet, has the neck, lower back, and breast white; C. palumbus, our Ring-Dove, Wood-Pigeon, Cushat, or Queest, the habits of which are universally known, extends through the Palaearctic Region from Madeira and the Azores to Persia; it differs from the smaller and darker Stock-Dove (C. oenas), of the same Region eastward to Turkestan, by the white patches on the sides of its neck and the white wing-bar. C. livia, the Rock-Dove, from which our domestic races have sprung, is easily distinguishable from other British species by the white rump and the two black alar bands. The breeding habits of our native birds, and the damage done by flocks of Wood-Pigeons, partly composed of immigrants, have already been mentioned (p. [328]). Columba laurivora and C. bollii, which lays but one egg, are peculiar to the Canary Islands; C. trocaz to Madeira, C. torringtoniae to Ceylon, C. palumboïdes to the Andamans and Nicobars, C. metallica to Timor, C. gymnophthalma, apparently to Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, and several forms to Samoa, the Liu-Kiu, Bonin, Fiji, and other groups. C. araucana reaches the Straits of Magellan.
Gymnophaps albertisi, of New Guinea, is grey, with whitish breast, purplish-chestnut under parts elsewhere, and naked red orbits.
Sub-fam. 4. Treroninae.–This includes the Fruit-Pigeons in the widest sense, natives of the Old World, of which the bigger are contained in the first eight genera. Hemiphaga novae zealandiae, of New Zealand, is green, with brilliant coppery reflexions, brownish-purple back, and white abdomen; H. spadicea, of Norfolk Island, and H. chathamensis, of the Chatham group, have greyer wing-coverts and green nape. Lopholaemus antarcticus, of Eastern Australia, is grey, with a fine rufous crest, black remiges, black rectrices banded with grey, and bare reddish orbits; the neck-feathers being hackled as in Caloenas. In Myristicivora the general plumage is white, but M. bicolor, of the Malay Archipelago, has black wing-quills and tip to the tail; the similar M. spilorrhoa of Australia and Papuasia, the yellower M. subflavescens of New Ireland, and the blacker-tailed M. melanura of the Moluccas, have black spots near the vent; M. luctuosa, of Celebes and the Sula Islands, has the remiges nearly grey.
Phaenorrhina goliath, of New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines, is slaty-black, with maroon patches on the wing-coverts and abdomen, black quills, and a broad chestnut tail-bar.
The forty to fifty species of Carpophaga range from India to Hainan and Fiji. C. concinna, found in the Moluccas, Tenimber, Ké, and Aru Islands, is metallic bronzy-green with grey head and lower surface; C. aenea, extending from India and Ceylon to Hainan and Flores, has more vinaceous lower parts and greener tail; C. latrans, of Fiji, is nearly brown above; C. zoeae, of Papuasia, has a chestnut mantle and black pectoral band. C. griseipectus, of the Philippines, has a grey back with blackish-green spots, and a chestnut lower breast; C. basilica, of the Halmahera group, has a pinkish-white head and upper breast, a rufous lower breast, and a broad grey tip to the tail; C. cuprea, of Southern India, is brown, with white throat, greyish-pink head, neck, mantle, and under parts; C. poecilorrhoa, of North Celebes, is glossy greenish-black above with grey head, mantle, and chest, and brown breast with ochre markings; C. pinon, of New Guinea and the Western Papuan Islands, is slaty-grey with a white forehead, a ring of white feathers round the naked red orbits, and a purplish-chestnut lower breast. Large flocks commonly gather after breeding. The seven species of Globicera, remarkable for a fleshy knob at the base of the bill, may be represented by C. pacifica, ranging from New Guinea to Samoa, and C. rubricera, of New Ireland, New Britain, New Hanover, and the Duke of York Island. The former has a grey head, bronzy-green upper parts, bluer remiges and rectrices and pinkish lower surface, the knob being black. The latter has a vinous head, grey mantle, chestnut abdomen, and red knob. Serresius galeatus, of the Marquesas Islands, noted for the feathered skin or "saddle" covering half the culmen, is deep glossy green, with dark grey head and under parts. All these Fruit-Pigeons feed and build on lofty trees, and seldom, if ever, descend to the ground–possessing short legs and broad-soled grasping feet; they have a powerful rapid flight and utter varied notes, occasionally deep and booming like a wild beast's roar; they eat vast quantities of fruit, and some are very fond of mice; while they normally lay two eggs, but exceptionally one.
The five splendid species of Megaloprepia occupy the Northern Moluccas, Papuasia, and Eastern Australia. M. magnifica of the latter country has a greenish-grey head and neck, golden-green upper parts with an oblique yellow band on the wing-coverts, rich purple breast and abdomen, and yellow vent. M. formosa of the Halmahera group lacks the yellow on the wings and has, in the male only, a crimson patch on the greenish breast. The other three species are barely separable. The habits resemble those of Carpophaga, the note being peculiarly hoarse.