Page:Pigeons - their structure, varieties, habits, and management (IA b28107901).pdf/28

 the second is the longest, the first almost equal in length, the third considerably shorter; the secondaries are twelve in number, short, and ond obliquely. The tail is straight, slightly rounded, the feathers broad and abruptly rounded.

"The horny part of the bill is brownish-black. The iris of the eye is bright yellowish-red; the bare space around the eye fiesh-coloured. The tarsi and toes are carmine-purple; the claws dark greyish-brown or black.

"The general colour of the plumage is light greyish-blue, the lower parts being as deeply coloured as the upper. The middle of the neck all round is splendent with green, its lower part with purplish-red. The lower part of the back and the upper part of the sides, from near the shoulders to near the tail, are pure white, as are the lower wing-coverts and axillaries. The primaries and their coverts are brownish-grey on the outer web, the former dusky towards the end, as are the outer secondaries. There are two broad bars of black on the wing, one extending over the six inner secondary quills, the other over the secondary coverts, the outer two excepted. The tail has a broad terminal band of black, and the outer web of each lateral feather is white. The downy part of the feathers is greyish-white, excepting on the white part of the back, where it is pure white.

"Length to end of tail 14 inches; to end of wings when closed 12; extent of wings 27; wing from flexure 9; tail 5; bill along the back, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 1; first toe , its claw; second toe 4%, its claw 3;; third toe 144, its claw twelfths; fourth toe , its claw 4 twelfths.

"The only external differences which the female presents consist of her being a little smaller, and having the shining colours on the neck less extended.

"Length to end of tail 13 inches; extent of wings 26; wing from flexure 9; tail 4; bill along the back, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 1; first toe , its claw ; second toe , its claw ; third toe 1, its claw 5 twelfths; fourth toe , its claw 4 twelfths.

"Among the vast numbers of undonbtedly wild birds of this species which I have seen, I have not observed any remarkable variations of form or colour. The dark-coloured, purple, and white individuals, which are occasionally seen consorting with the wild doves, or residing in maritime caves or rocks, are in all probability domestic birds that have betaken themselves to the original mode of life of the species. As the moulting season approaches, the blue tint becomes much paler, especially on the wings. The outer primary quills are often tinged with brown, in consequence of the bird's striking the ground with its wings when commencing its flight; and the bill is frequently more or less crusted with earth or mud. Individuals vary in length from 18 to 14 inches, and in the extent of their wings from 24 to 27.

"At the western extremity of Ben Capval, a promontory of one of the remote Hebrides, is a vast mass of rock, broken by gaps and fissures into projecting crags and sloping shelves, and looking as if originally produced by the separation of a portion of the mountain which had sunk into the depths of the ocean that heaves