Réunion pink pigeon
Réunion pink pigeon | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Columbiformes |
Family: | Columbidae |
Genus: | Nesoenas |
Species: | N. mayeri |
Subspecies: | †N. m. duboisi
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Trinomial name | |
†Nesoenas mayeri duboisi Rothschild, 1907
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Synonyms | |
Columba duboisi (Rothschild, 1907) |
The Réunion pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri duboisi, but see below) is an
wild pigeons, everywhere full with them, some with slaty-coloured feathering [Alectroenas?], the others russet-red [N. duboisi]. They are a little larger than the European pigeons, and have larger bills, red at the end close to the head, the eyes ringed with the colour of fire, like pheasants. There is a season when they are so fat that one can no longer see their cloaca [croupion]. They are very good tasting. Wood-pigeons and turtle-doves, as one sees in Europe and as good.[2]
It is considered a subspecies of the pink pigeon.
Its
There seem to have been one to three other species of columbid on Réunion (not counting the invalidated "
Extinction
Since the Réunion pink pigeon was only mentioned explicitly by Dubois, little can be said about its extinction. The last reports of native pigeons were by Père Bernardin in 1687 and by Guillaume Houssaye in 1689, although the Alectroenas may have existed for a somewhat longer time. Jean Feuilley in 1705 mentioned that all native pigeons were extinct; it seems likely that introduced rats and cats, combined with excessive hunting, were the causes of the birds' extinction.
References
- . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-7136-6544-4.
- S2CID 26083712.
Further reading
- Rothschild, Walter (1907): [Nesoenas duboisi]. In: Extinct Birds: 166.