250 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY 



by experiment with these birds in confinement. During, say, 

 ten months in the year, when corn is not to be procured, the 

 Rock-Dove subsists chiefly upon the roots of the couch-grass 

 {Tritiaan 7'epe?is), and the seeds of various troublesome weeds, 

 such as Sinapis arvensis, Raphanus^ Raphaiiistrum, Plajitago 

 mariii?na, and Capsella bursa-pastoris. There can be no doubt 

 that it greatly prefers grain to all other food, and will consume it 

 in enormous quantities ; therefore, if the farmer cannot con- 

 vince himself that the evil is counterbalanced by the good, 

 and finds his interests suffering, then by all means let him save 

 his pocket by thinning the ranks, but also let him pause ere he 

 attempt the dangerous experiment of total extermination." 



Nest. — According to Messrs. Kearton, who have given a 

 photograph of one of the caves in North Uist, where Rock- 

 Doves and Shags were breeding in company, the nest is a 

 small collection of twigs, sticks, seaweed, and bents, roughly 

 constructed, and flat. It is placed on ledges and clefts of 

 maritime and inland clifl's, generally the former. 



Eggs. — Two in number, glossy white. x\xis, 1-5 to 1-65 

 inches; diam., i'i5-i'2. 



THE POINTED-TAILED PIGEONS. SUB-FAMILY 

 ECTOPISTIN.L. 



In these American birds the tail is very peculiar, being not 

 only longer than the wing, but narrow, and having the feathers 

 pointed, the outer feathers being much broader than the centre 

 ones. There is but one genus and a single species in this 

 sub-family. 



THE PASSENGER PIGEONS. GENUS ECTOPISTES. 

 Ectopisfes, Swainson, Zool, Journ. p. 362 (1827). 

 Type, E, migratorius (Linn.). 

 The following is the only representative of the genus : — 



\. THE AMERICAN PASSENGER PIGEON. 



ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS. 



Cobnnba niigi'atoria^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 285 (1766). 



