COLUMBINE BIRDS, Or PIGEON'S Bill of moderate dimensions, compressed, base of the upper mandible covered with a soft skin, in which the nostrils are perforated, the tip more or less curved; feet, with three toes in front, quite divided, and one behind.
The Columbine family are pretty generally dispersed over the world, residing in the hottest, as well as in the more temperate climates, and even enduring the cold of Canada, Siberia, and the arctic regions. But few of the numerous species, comparatively, occur in the new conti nent; and warm countries, in general, seem to be most congenial with their constitution ; for in them the species are both more multiplied and more varied. Although they lay only two eggs at a time, and are, besides, exposed to the depredations of beasts and birds of prey, they often pullulate in numbers, and appear in immense flocks, ow ing, no doubt, to the circumstance of their breeding re peatedly in the course of the year, and also to their native strength, which enables them to subsist in a wide range of soil and climate. To the vigour and warmth of their tem perament, we may likewise attribute the facility with which they are transported from one place to another, and bred in latitudes remote from those whence they de rived their origin. They are generally of an elegant form, of beautiful varying plumage, and of sociable, gentle, and endearing manners. In their wild condition, they are all granivorous, swallowing grains and berries entire, which are macerated and softened in the crop, before descending into the stomach. They do not digest the kernels of cer tain fruits, but pass them, without impairing their vegeta tive power, and thus prove the means of disseminating different plants. Some of the species also pick up in sects. Pigeons are so strictly monogamous, that the first connection which they form is usually the only one which they contract in the course of their life, unless it is inter rupted by some accident. They pair in the breeding sea son, and most of them unite in flocks in the latter period of that term ; but each flock is composed of individuals of the same species. In their courtships the sexes coo and
kiss ; and they divide the task of incubation. Some nidi ficate in lofty trees, some in the crevices of rocks, some in copses or groves, and others in the immediate neigh bourhood of human habitations. The nest is, for the most part, slightly constructed of small twigs, of a flattish form, and sufficiently broad to contain both parents, who act as nurses and guardians, feeding their tender offspring, when excluded from the shell, with aliments reduced to a sort of pap, or curd-like consistency, in their crop, afterwards providing them with grain somewhat macerated ; and, lastly, with such as they swallow themselves. In order to receive their food, the young put their entire bill into that of their parert, keeping it half open, while the latter brings up and conveys into it the prepared contents of the crop, accompanying this action by a convulsive movement of the wings and body. The young pigeons are produced with a light down, and do not quit the nest till they are well fledged ; and they still require the parental aid for some time after they are capable of flying. Pigeons drink much, and by a continued draught, plunging their bill into the water. They likewise devour a great quantity of food in the course of a day, and their increase is generally checked where much attention is bestowed on husbandry, on account of the waste which they occasion in fields of grain. Their voice is usually plaintive and mournful. Their instinctive partiality for carbonate of lime possibly arises from their frequent incubation, a certain quantity of calcareous matter being requisite for the formation of the shell of the egg. The natural history of the tribe has late ly been admirably unfolded by M. Temminck. The sub ject might, indeed, furnish the materials of more than one volume ; for upwards of seventy species have been recog nised, and the manners of many of the European sorts have been diligently explored. In this place, however, we must restrict our notices to a few of the more remarkable ex emplifications of the order.