of the Alleghany Mountain Range. 78 



Order V. Grdllce, Waders. Order VI. Alnseres, Birds of the 

 1. Tringa solitaria, Solitary sand- Goose Kind. 



piper. 2. ^4'nas albeola, Buffel-headed 



3. 5c<51opax vociferus, Tell-tale duck. 



godwit, or snipe. 3. dfscors, Blue-winged teal. 



1. J'rdea virescens, Green heron. 



These birds, it may be proper to remark, were all obtained 

 at an elevation of from 1350 ft. to nearly 2000 ft. above the 

 level of the sea, but principally from the former. 



My geological investigations in the Tioga valley, during 

 this autumn, have extended through the area which I men- 

 tioned (VIII. 535.) as having been a few years since occupied 

 as the nesting-place of the passenger pigeon (Cbliimba migra- 

 toria). I have found that I had materially underrated the 

 length of this valley of pigeons, and am enabled to assert, 

 from my own observation, that full fourteen miles in length 

 were occupied by these birds. I am not prepared even to say 

 that this is the utmost limit, as my opportunity for observing 

 terminated at that point ; and here the numerous felled trees 

 and old nests showed the former abundance of these transitory 

 visitants. I am informed that the various processes of build- 

 ing the nests, of incubation, and of the flight of the young 

 birds, and the departure of the old ones, are remarkably 

 simultaneous. The young pigeons, or " squabs," appear to 

 quit their nests, and essay to fly, nearly all within a day or two 

 of each other. Consequently it becomes necessary, on the 

 part of those who seek these birds, to be on the watch, or 

 they will be unsuccessful in capturing the game. It was stated, 

 that comparatively a very few young birds were taken even 

 on the third day after the general flight took place. By per- 

 sons who assisted at this time in collecting a great number of 

 the squabs from this place, I was assured that they rarely found 

 more than one young bird in each nest. Mr. Audubon, 

 whose account of these birds is the result of much observa- 

 tion, affirms that each brood generally consists of a male 

 and a female. The relation, given by this delightful ornitho- 

 logist, of the nesting of the passenger pigeon, I have found 

 to be perfectly correct. I have never been in the vicinity of 

 one of their roosting places. 



I believe the songster of the Alleghany woods, to which 

 allusion is made in my preceding communication (VIII. 

 534f.), is the American wood thrush (Turdus mustelinus), in 

 whose praise the author above alluded to speaks with such 

 enthusiasm. 



At present I have little to add to the list of Mammalia 

 inhabiting this district. Having passed much time in the 

 present year in an unfrequented and elevated forest region, 



Vol. IX. — No. 58. g 



