498 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



numbers than Ir- had iver known before. He attempted to count 

 the different Hocks as they successively passed, but after counting 

 one liiuuh-fd and sixty-three in twenty-one minutes, he t,'ave it up 

 as impiiicticahle. As he journeyed on, theii- numbers seemed to 

 increase. The air seemed filled with Pigeons, and the hght of noon- 

 day to be obscured as l)y an ecUpse. Not a single bird ali{,'hted, as 

 the woods were destitute of mast, and all tiew so high that he 

 failed to reach any with a rifle. He speaks of their aerial evolu- 

 tions as beautiful in the extreme, especially when a Hawk pressetl 

 ujuin the rear of a flock. All at once, like a torrent, and with a 

 noise like that of tinnider, they rushed together in a compact mass, 

 and darted forward in undulating lines, descending and sweeping 

 near the earth with marvellous velocity, then mounting almost per- 

 pendicularly in a vast column, wheeling and twisting so that their 

 continued lines seemed to resemble the coils of a gigantic serpent. 

 Dui-ing the whole of his journey from Hardcnsburg to Louisville, 

 tifty-live miles, they continued to pass in undiminished numbers, 

 and also did so during the thi-ee following days. At times they 

 flew so low that multitudes were destroyed, and for many days the 

 entire population seemed to eat nothing else hut Pigeons." 



Genus ZENAIDURA lioN.vrARTK. 



Ziuaidiirn BoNAP. Consp. Avium, ii. Isvi. s-l. Typo, ('olnuiha earolinensi* LiNS. 



•'Gen. C'HAn. Rill woiik.blm-k: i-ulnion from frontnl foiitliprsiibout oni" third tliuheaJ 

 above. Tarsus not as Ioiik as iiiiddir toi- aud daw. but considornbly lon^iT lliaii the- 

 lateral Olios; covered anioriorly by a single series ofsoutellie. Inner lateral <la\v con- 

 siderably loUKor tlian outer, and reacliinc to tlie base of middle. Wings pointed; second 

 quill longosl; llrst and third nearly eiiual. Tail very lone, equal to the wings; exces- 

 sively graduated and cuneate. of fourteen feathers." (//is/. -V. -liii. IS.) 



The fourteen tail-feathers render this genus very conspicuous 

 among the North American doves. It was formerly placed with the 

 Passenger Pigeon in ErtopUtcs, but has nothing in common with it 

 but the lengthened tail, as it belongs to a different subfamily. At 

 present three species are known, one (_Z. (inij/soiii Lawk.) being 

 peculiar to Socorro Island, well otf the coast of western Mexico, the 

 other (Z. iiiinittiiirii.'iishxwn.) from the vicinity of Merida, in northern 

 Yucatan. The latter is possibly a hylirid between Z. fdniHiinmix 

 and Zi'iitiidd (iiiittliilis, being exactly intermediate in form and color- 

 ation, while the type specimen still remains unique. (Cf. //(•</. X. 

 Am. B. Vol. III., p. 38-2, and "The Auk," Vol. I., .liin. 1884, p. %.) 



