CLASS AVES. 



153 



FIG. 261. 



EC to pis tes mi gra to'rl . 

 Passenger Pigeon. (J.) 



ORDER COLUMB>E (ko Ittm'be). 



The Pigeons* have the bill shorter than the head, 

 with the nostrils imbedded in soft skin ; and the hind 

 toe on a level with the others. Both male and female 

 disgorge into the mouths of the young a milky sub- 

 stance, and when a few 

 days old, macerated grain. 



The Wild, or Passenger 

 Pigeon, was once common 

 to all parts of North Amer- 

 ica, where it frequently col- 

 lected in such numbers as 

 to load with nests every 

 tree in a forest forty miles 

 long. Each nest contains 

 two eggs, hatching usually a male and female, which are 

 believed to pair at maturity. The male often makes daily 

 excursions of a hundred miles to procure food.f Many 



* All the domestic varieties, now numbering nearly forty, are believed to 

 have sprung from the Rock Dove (Colum'ba liv'la) of Europe and Asia. 



t Their speed is very great. Pigeons have been killed near New York with 

 their crops full of rice, which must have been eaten in the plantations of Georgia 

 and Carolina, six or seven hundred miles distant. As they would digest grain in 

 twelve hours, they must have traveled a mile per minute. They fly in enormous 

 columns, miles in length and width. It is estimated that such a flock would 

 require millions of bushels of food each day. Audubon gives a vivid description 

 of a resting-place on Green River, Kentucky. lie says : " The noise which they 

 made reminded me of a strong sea-breeze amongst the cordage of a ship. When 

 they passed above my head, I felt a current of air which astonished me. Thou- 

 sands were already struck down by men armed with poles, but they continued to 

 arrive without intermission. Fires were lighted. The birds precipitated them- 

 selves in masses, and pitched where they could, one upon the other, in large 

 heaps like barrels. Then the branches gave way under the weight, cracked and 

 fell, bringing to the ground and crushing the closely-packed flocks, which covered 

 every part of the trees. It was a scene of tumult and confusion. In vain I tried 

 to speak, or even to call the persons nearest to me. It was with difficulty that I 

 could hear the guns fire, and I only perceived the men had fired by seeing them 

 reload their arms. Pigeons continued to come, and it was past midnight before 



