On the Common Pigeon. 169 



climates of the world. Several varieties are described as inhabiting North 

 America, but only one, so far as we have ascertained, visits Canada ; and it 

 is so generally known in the country, that it appears almost superfluous to 

 give any description of it here. The principal peculiarity of the bird, 

 however, — we mean its amazing gregariousness, is not often witnessed to its 

 full extent in this Province, and we shall therefore give the interesting account 

 furnished by Wilson in full, it is as follows : — 



" This remarkable bird merits a distinguished place in the annals of our 

 feathered tribes, — a claim to which I shall endeavor to do justice ; and, 

 though it would be impossible, in the bounds allotted to this account, to 

 relate all I have seen and heard of this species, yet no circumstance shall be 

 omitted with which I am acquainted, (however extraordinary some of these 

 may appear,) that may tend to illustrate its history. 



" The Wild Pigeon of the United States inhabits a wide and extensive 

 region of North America, on this side of the great Stony Mountains, beyond 

 which, to the westward, I have not heard of their being seen. According 

 to Mr. Hutchins, they abound in the country round Hudson's Bay, where 

 they usually remain as late as December, feeding, when the ground is covered 

 with snow, on the buds of juniper. They spread over the whole of Canada ; 

 were seen by Captain Lewis and his party near the Great Falls of the 

 Missouri, upwards of 2,500 miles from its mouth, reckoning the meanderings 

 of the river ; were also met with in the interior of Louisiana by Colonel 

 Pike ; and extend their range as far south as the Gulf of Mexico ; occasion- 

 ally visiting or breeding in almost every quarter of the United States. 



" But the most remarkable characteristic of these birds is their associat- 

 ing together, both in their migrations, and also during the period of incuba- 

 tion, in such prodigious numbers, as almost to surpass belief; and which 

 has no parallel among any other of the feathered tribes on the face of the 

 earth, with which naturalists are acquainted. 



Note. — The family is called ColumbinjE or Colubibidje, from the Latin, 

 ColuTnba, a dove. It contains a number of closely allied genera, the proper 

 arrangement of which appears to have given much trouble to Ornithologists. — 

 Audubon makes three genera in North America, Columba^ Sitarncenas 4- Ectupistes^ 

 and the species are : — 



1. Columba fasciata, Band-tailed Dove. 



2. C leucocephala, White-headed Dove. 



3. C Zenaida, Zenaida Dove. 



4. C montana, Key-west Dove. 



5. C passerina, Passerine Dove — Ground Dove. 



6. Starnaenas cyanocephala, Blue-headed Ground Dove, 



7. Ectopistes migratoria. Passenger Pigeon. 



8. E Carolinensis, Carolinia Long-tailed Dove. 



These, with the exception of B. migratoria^ are all confined to the Southern 

 and Western portions of the continent. We understand that several others have 

 been added since the publication of Audubon's works. 



In the British Isles there are four indigenous species : — 



1st. The Ring Dove, Cushat, or Wood Pigeon, Columba pahcmhiis. 

 2nd. The Rock or Wild Pigeon, Columba livia. 

 3rd. The Smaller Wood Pigeon, Columba anas. 

 4th. The Turtle Dove, Columba Ucrtur. 



All the varieties of the domestic Pigeon, both of America and Europe, hat© 

 the Rock Pigeon, C livia^ for their stock. 



