Birds of America
By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.
VOLUME IV.
FAMILY XXIX.--COLUMBINAE. PIGEONS.
Bill short, soft for half its length, horny toward the end; upper mandible
with a tumid fleshy covering at the base, its dorsal line straight, toward the
end convex and deflected, the tip narrow, but obtuse; lower mandible at its base
wider than the upper, its sides elastic and slender, the angle long and obtuse,
the dorsal line short and convex, the tip obtuse. Nostrils linear in the lower
and fore part of the nasal membrane. Head small, oblong; neck of moderate
length; body rather full. Feet short; tarsus partially feathered, scutellate,
or scaly; toes four, on the same level, broad beneath, marginate; the first
short, the lateral nearly equal, all scutellate above. Claws moderate, arched,
compressed, rather blunt. Plumage generally compact, the feathers with thick
spongy shaft, and destitute of plumule. Wings and tail various. Tongue rather
broad at the base, toward the end narrow, horny, induplicate, pointed;
oesophagus very wide, enlarged into an enormous crop; stomach a very large and
strong gizzard, placed obliquely, its lateral muscles exceedingly thick, the
lower prominent, the tendons very large, the epithelium dense, with longitudinal
broad rugae, and two opposite grinding surfaces; intestine long, of moderate
width; coeca very small; cloaca oblong. Trachea simple, flattened, with a
single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles. Nest flat, rudely constructed. Eggs
two, elliptical, white.