THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 9 



pale purplish- red, and the abdomen white. The long, 

 pointed tail had the two central feathers deep black, 

 the rest white, taking a bluish tint near their bases, 

 and marked with one black spot and another of rusty- 

 red on the inner webs. 



The beak was black, eye a fiei^-orange and a naked 

 space around- the eye was purplish-red. The female 

 was smaller, with oaken-brown breast and ashen neck 

 and a slaty space around the eyes. An adult male was 

 about 16 inches long, while a female scarcely attained 

 14 inches, although she was as swift and tireless in 

 flight as he was. In nest building the female did the 

 building and her mate fetched materials — a few^ twigs 

 rudely woven into a platform, so loosely that eggs and 

 young can be seen from below and begun and finished 

 in one day. They are neither artists nor craftsmen; 

 for many nests fall to the ground in the winds and eggs 

 and squabs are lost. The ground was covered with 

 the ruins of many homes, under the nesting trees of 

 their colonies and animals gorged upon the young birds 

 nightly. 



The Indians told quaint legends of the pigeons, 

 when they returned, awaking an honest adoration in 

 their hearts : The Spirits of men came upon the earth 

 seeking incarnation, among the birds and animals, 

 with an appeal, "Ho, Elder Brother, the children have 

 no bodies." But they were unheeded, until the pigeon 

 carne and answered : "Your children shall have bodies ; 

 my bones shall be their bones, my flesh their flesh, my 

 blood their blood, and they shall see with my eyes. 



