238 



THE OOLOGIST. 



found to continue in flocks in Virginia, 

 Kentucky and even Tennesee. 



The birds possessed great powers ot 

 flight as instanced by the account of an 

 early writer. He says that Pigeons 

 were shot in New York which still held 

 undigested rice in their stomachs. It is 

 reasoned that this rice could not have 

 been procurred nearer than the Caro- 

 linas, hence it will be seen, as the bird's 

 digeston is rapid, that these migrants 

 must have made very fast time. But 

 this tale must be taken with some 9I- 

 loAvance. 



It would be agreeable to give your 

 readers accounts of some old-time Pig- 

 •eon haunts, but space does not permit, 

 and moreover, most of your readers 

 prefer notes on nesting. Without giv- 

 ing notes on arrival and mating, we 

 will consider the nesting habits. 



In the latter part of April or early 

 May the birds began nesting. The nest 

 building beginning as soon as the birds 

 had selected a woods for a rookery, the 

 scene was one of great activity. Birds 

 were flying in every direction in search 

 of twigs for their platform nests, and it 

 does seem that each pair was intent on 

 securing materials at a distance from 

 the structure. Many twigs M'ere drop- 

 ped in flying or at the nest, and these 

 Avere never reclaimed by their bearers, 

 but were often picked up by other birds 

 from another part of the rookery. This 

 peculiarity in so many species of bii'ds 

 in nest building, I could never under- 

 stand. 



It takes a pair of Pigeons from four 

 to six days to complete a nest, and any 

 Imsket maker could do a hundred per 

 cent, better job Avith the same materials 

 in a couple of hours. In the nest of the 

 Pigeon, man could certainly give the 

 birds points for their benefit, for it is 

 one of the most shiftless structures 

 placed in trees that I have met with. 



The nest is always composed of slen- 

 der dead twigs, so far as I have ob- 

 served, or ever learn from others, and 



in comparison, though smaller, much 

 resembles some of the Heron's struct- 

 ures. In all nests that I have observed 

 the materials are so loosely put to- 

 gether that the egg or young bird can 

 be seen through the the latticed bottom. 

 In fact, it has been my custom to al- 

 Avays thus examine the nests before 

 climbing the tree. 



The platform structures vary in diam- 

 eter from six to twelve inches or more, 

 differing in size according to the length 

 of the sticks, but generally are about 

 nine or ten inches across. An acquain- 

 tance of mine had tamed some wild 

 birds, Avhich at last bred regularly in 

 captivity. These birds Avere well sup- 

 plied Avith an abundance of material 

 for their nests and ahva.vs selected in 

 confinement such as described above, 

 and making a nest about nine inches in 

 diameter. 



The breeding places selected are gen- 

 erally found in oak woods, l^ut the 

 great nesting sites in Michigan Avere 

 often in timbered lands I am informed. 

 The height of the nest varies. It may 

 be as low as six feet or all of sixty-five 

 feet from the ground. 



Passenger Pigeons are ahvays gre- 

 garious Avhen unmolested, anrt him- 

 dreds of thousands sometimes breed in 

 a neighborhood at one time. It is im- 

 possible to say how many nests were 

 the most found in one tree, but there 



are authenticated instances of ahundred. 



« 

 One man, in whose veracity I rely, in- 

 forms me that he counted one hundred 

 and ten nests in one tree in Emmett coun- 

 ty, the Lower Peninsula. Still this maj' 

 not be correct, for we all know how 

 easy it is to be deceived in correctly 

 counting and keeping record of even 

 the branches of a tree, and when these 

 limbs are occupied by nests it is cer- 

 tainly doubly difficult, and the tenden- 

 cy to count the same nests twice is in- 

 creased. 



The first nests that I found were in 

 large Avhite oak trees at the edge of a 



