THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 199 



follow the same line of flight the old birds took a 

 week before. The old birds will not feed in the nest- 

 ing or near the border of it. This food is left for the 

 young birds to live on while they are getting the use 

 of their wings. The young birds are great feeders 

 from the time of hatching until the old birds leave 

 them. The hrst twelve days of a young pigeon's life, 

 he feeds exclusively on curd that forms in the craw 

 in a thin sack that adheres to the inner part of the 

 craw, fining one-third the craw proper. This curd 

 forms in the craw of the males as well as the females.. 

 Wiien feeding their young the old birds will draw their 

 head and neck down close to their body, open their 

 mouth wide, then the young bird will stick his beak 

 down the old bird's throat and eat the curd out of 

 the old bird's craw. This curd does not mix with 

 the old bird's food as it is in a container by itself, 

 which gives way after about twelve or thirteen days ; 

 after this the young birds will get beechnuts or seeds 

 from other trees or shrubs, mixed with the curd. 

 Pigeons never nested in Pennsylvania, only in the 

 spring of the year, following a season when there was 

 a good crop of beechnuts. Under no other condi- 

 tions could such a body of birds possibly live for a 

 period long enough to raise their young which takes 

 about thirty-one days. Take the pigeon nesting in 

 1870, for instance. The daily flight was in a north- 

 erly direction from the nesting and eight miles from 

 the nesting it would be one continual flock of birds as 

 far as you could see east, west, north or south for 



