386 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hundred miles after the appearance of each brood of young." When 

 food was plentiful it is believed that three or even four broods of 

 young were raised in a season. 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The passenger pigeon laid either one or 

 two eggs in a set, probably more often only one. Most of the 

 authentic eggs that I have seen are decidedly elongated, elliptical- 

 ovate in shape, but this may not be the invariable rule. The 

 shell is smooth and slightly glossy. The color is pure white. 

 The measurements of 32 eggs, apparently authentic, average 38.2 by 

 27 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 45.2 by 

 29.7, 33.5 by 26, and 36.2 by 24.9 millimeters.] 



Young. — The incubation period is 14 days as observed exactly in 

 captive birds (Deane, 1896). Both birds take part in the incubation, 

 a point that was accurately determined by netters as shown by their 

 catches. Brewster (1889) quoting Stevens, says: 



Both birds incubate, the females between two o'clock p. m. and nine or ten 

 o'clock the next morning; the males from nine or ten o'clock a. m. to two 

 o'clock p. m. The males feed twice each day, namely, from daylight to about 

 eight o'clock a. m. and again late in the afternoon. The females feed only 

 during the forenoon. The change is made with great regularity as to time, 

 all the males being on the nest by ten o'clock a. m. During the morning and 

 evening no females are ever caught by the netters; during the forenoon no 

 males. The sitting bird does not leave the nest until the bill of its incoming 

 mate nearly touches its tail, the former slipping off as the latter takes its 

 place. 



Kuthven Deane (1896) says: 



During the first few days, after the young is hatched, to guard against the 

 cold, it is like the egg, concealed under the feathers of the abdomen, the head 

 always pointing forward. In this attitude, the parents, without changing the 

 sitting position or reclining on the side, feed the squab by arching the head and 

 neck down and administering the food. The young leave the nest in about 

 fourteen days. 



As the nesting of passenger pigeons often began before snowfalls 

 had ceased, the following note by Frank J. Thompson (1881) showing 

 their hardihood under such circumstances is of interest: 



In confinement in Cincinnati early in March, 1S78, two pairs began nesting, 

 the male carrying the material while the female busied herself in placing it. 

 A single egg was soon laid in each nest and incubation commenced. On March 

 16 there was quite a heavy fall of snow and on the next morning I was unable 

 to see the birds on their nests on account of the accumulation of the snow 

 piled on the platforms around them. Within a couple of days it had dis- 

 appeared and for the next four or five nights a self-registering thermometer, 

 hanging in the aviary, marked from 14° to 19°. In spite of these drawbacks 

 both of the eggs were hatched and the young ones reared. 



Brewster (1889) says: 



The young are forced out of their nests by the old birds. Mr. Stevens has 

 twice seen this done. One of the pigeons, usually the male, pushes the young 



