A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Family COLUMBIDÆ.

Tarsus slender, feathered at base; bill slender, gape small, and nostril covering conspicuously swollen; tail nearly square or greatly graduated; colors blackish or reddish brown.

Subfamilies.

• a¹. Tail moderate, nearly square; plumage mostly blackish with purple and green metallic reflections. Columbinæ (p. [51])
• a². Tail greatly elongated and graduated; plumage mostly chestnut or rufous-brown with little metallic color. Macropyginæ (p. [52])

Subfamily COLUMBINÆ.

Genus COLUMBA Linnæus, 1758.

Bill comparatively slender; membrane behind nostril greatly swollen and bulging out on the side; first primary very slightly scooped on inner web; tarsus feathered at the base. The only Philippine species is almost entirely black, glossed with green and purple.

43. COLUMBA GRISEOGULARIS (Walden and Layard).

GRAY-THROATED PIGEON.

• Ianthœnas griseogularis Walden and Layard, Ibis (1872), 104, pl. 6.
• Columba griseigularis Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 313; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 72; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 13.