THE MUSEUM. 



37 



other composftion; also ground pieces 

 of pearly shell or attached pearls that 

 have been cut from the valve and 

 rounded ami polished on the defective 

 side. 



Frequently the round, hard lens of a 

 fish's eye. 



In the second class maybe mention- 

 ed natural |L,'rowths found in the shell, 

 resembling brown pearls, translucent 

 and consisting not of nacre, but of 

 conchioline — the material of the hinge 

 and ligament. These are sometimes 

 handsome and lustrous, and occasion- 

 ally indescent, but, of course, are not 

 pearls and have no commercial value. 



A third class of doubtful character 

 consists of metallic objects that some- 

 times strongly resemble pearls and may 

 have been introduced either by inten- 

 tion or accident. Such are small shot 

 and steel spheres from "ballbearings"; 

 these, when bright, look much like the 

 darker and lighter gray pearls, respec- 

 tively, and are frequently encountered. 



END. 



The Passenger Pigeon. 



{Hctopistfs Migratorious. ) 



This beautiful bird, once in such 

 numbers throughout nearly the whole 

 of the extensive region of the North 

 American Continent, has now become 

 almost extinct, — so far as can be 

 learned — the species being very, very 

 seldom seen or heard of, it seems a 

 thousand pities that such should be the 

 case. Trappers followed the birds 

 with their nets to their rookeries every 

 year, catching immense numbers which 

 they shipped both dead and alive to 

 New York, Boston and other large 

 centers. They used wild decoy live 

 birds and fed places for the netting. 

 No doubt this constant pursuit accounts 

 in some measure for their disappear- 

 ance. Many reports have been pub- 

 lished of late that these birds had ap- 

 peared in numbers in Colorado and 

 other sections, but on special incjuiry 

 being made, another of the Pigeon 



family (The Bandtail) were the ones 

 seen. The last of the Passenger Pig- 

 eons seen by the writer was in the year 

 18S5, when a little llock of seven tlcw 

 towards a pine bush near Small's pond 

 and within a few hundred yards of our 

 city limits. The appearance of such 

 old friends brought back many, many 

 pleasant remembrances of the good old 

 days when every year, about the month 

 of April the flight of the birds began. 

 It was about the year 1848 that I first 

 remember seeing them. They con- 

 tinued steadily year after year to visit 

 this section of country. The flight 

 would continue for weeks, and many 

 old residents as well as myself can 

 safely testify to the immense ilocks 

 and countless numbers flying from 

 East to West for hours at a time 

 every day of the week, but it is hardly 

 fair to ask people other than old resi- 

 dents to believe what is here stated. 

 I have seen the birds fly along Queen 

 street, West, morning after morning in 

 almost one continued succession of 

 flocks — many flying low down towards 

 the roadway. Farmers and others 

 used even fas far back as the year 1 850) 

 to catch great numbers in nets in the 

 grain fields and other feeding places, 

 and at that time I have seen wagon 

 loads of the live birds taken into our 

 market for sale loose in the convey- 

 ances and a net only used as covering 

 to prevent the birds escaping. They 

 sold for a trifle per dozen. 



It must also be remembered that 

 the birds were in immense numbers all 

 over Canada as well as in this locality. 

 Wilson, the great Ornithologist writes 

 that in his day they visited and bred in 

 almost every quarter of the United 

 States, and he says in such prodigious 

 numbers as almost to surpass belief 

 and which had no parallel among any 

 of the feathered tribes on the face of 

 the earth. In the states of Ohio and 

 Kentucky and Indiana Territory he saw 

 them congregated in millions. 



The birds would fly 60 to 80 miles 

 for food in the morning and return in 

 the evening of the same day. Thous- 



