General Notes. 227 



A NOTE ON THE DOMESTIC PIGEON. 



On September 13, 1921, in company with Mr. C. H. M. Barrett, I was 

 engaged in the wild rice (Zizania) marshes of the Anacostia River, D. C, 

 which is one of the areas in the Federal District where shooting is permitted. 

 A pair of homing pigeons {Columba livia var.) had been casually noted for 

 several minutes, but our attention was centered in their direction, when a 

 hunter, seventy-five or a hundred yards distant, fired at them. Although 

 it was obvious that the birds were practically out of range, one of them 

 seemed to have been hit, for after a short circle, it came down and alighted 

 on the surface of the river within about sixty yards of our boat. The second 

 bird, circling sharply, hovered over its mate for a few seconds and then 

 came down and lit on the water beside it. Turning our glasses on the birds, 

 we now observed them to be drinking, both apparently uninjured. They 

 remained on the water fully thirty seconds and then rose as lightly and 

 apparently with as little effort as would be expected from a gull or tern. 

 Both birds were seen several times later in the same day, but were not again 

 observed to repeat their aquatic performance. 



Although this habit (if habit it is) was entirely new to me, I find that it 

 has been noted by other observers although it is evidently of rare occurrence. 

 In the Canadian Field-Naturalist for May, 1921 (Vol. XXXV, No. 5, p. 

 98), Mr. Hoyes Lloyd reports a similar observation, with a resume of some 

 previous accounts. He reports that this aquatic habit has been noted in the 

 case of the domestic or homing pigeon (European Rock Dove stock), the 

 Wood Pigeon {Columba palumbus, and the Passenger Pigeon {Ectopistes 

 migratorius) . In this connection, it is interesting to recall that in the 

 system of classification proposed by Dr. Hans Gadow,' Order number 

 eleven of the Division of Neornithes Carinatae, the Charadriiformes, 

 include the A. O. U. Orders Limicolae, Longipennes, and Columbae and the 

 Family Alcidae. 



— Frederick C. Lincoln. 



iBronn's Klassen un Ordnungen des Thier-Reichs. VogeJ. Von Hans Gadow. II, Syste- 

 matischer Theil, Leipzig, 1893, pp. 194-212. 



