384 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



like a brief, quick handshake. It is probable that there is no passing of 

 food from one mouth to the other. 



The passenger pigeon was essentially an arboreal bird and con- 

 ducted its courtship in the trees. Chief Pokagon (1895), the last 

 Pottawattomie chief, says that about the middle of May, 1850, at 

 a great nesting place in Michigan, " the trees were filled with them 

 sitting in pairs in convenient crotches of the limb, now and then 

 gently flattering their half-spread wings and uttering to their mates 

 those strange, bell-like waving notes which I had mistaken for the 

 ringing of bells in the distance." 



During the courtship period much fighting occurred among the 

 males in their crowded quarters, but little injury resulted. Craig 

 (1911a) says: 



The male Ectophtcs was a particularly quarrelsome bird, ever ready to 

 threaten or strike with his wings (though perhaps not quite so ready with 

 his beak), and to shout defiance in his loud strident voice. * * * He was 

 an aggressive, violent threatener, but not a real fighter. 



Nesting. — As the passenger pigeon approached extinction it nested 

 in small companies or singly, but until its numbers were greatly re- 

 duced the nestings took place in communities of great size. The 

 accounts of these nesting communities by various authors are almost 

 invariably accompanied with a description of the means used for the 

 capture and slaughter of the adults and squabs. These will be 

 quoted later under enemies. There are, however, a few descriptions 

 of the nestings alone. Wilson (1832) says they 



are generally in beech woods, and often extend in nearly a straight line across 

 the country for a great way. Not far from Shelbyville in the state of Ken- 

 tucky, about five years ago, there was one of these breeding places, which 

 stretched through the woods in nearly a north and south direction, was several 

 miles in breadth, and was said to be upwards of forty miles in extent ! In this 

 tract almost every tree was furnished with nests wherever the branches could 

 accommodate them." 



More than 100 nests in one tree alone were not uncommon. Mershon 

 (1907) says a game dealer in Detroit had seen a nesting place in 

 Wisconsin that extended through the woods for 100 miles. 



In the spring of 1885 William Brewster and Jonathan Dwight 

 went to Michigan hoping to see a nesting of the passenger pigeon. 

 In this they were unsuccessful as they found only one nest, but 

 they collected a great deal of valuable information. Brewster (1889) 

 quotes S. S. Stevens of Cadillac, " a veteran pigeon netter of large 

 experience — a man of high reputation for veracity and carefulness 

 of statement," as follows: 



The last nesting in Michigan of any importance was in 1881, a few miles 

 west of Grand Traverse. It was of only moderate size, perhaps eight miles long. 

 The largest nesting he ever visited was in 1876 or 1877. It began near Petosky 



