430 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
it was the wolves’ turn, the howls of which. saluted our ears. 
Foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, rats, opossums, and martens, bounding, 
running, climbing, pressed to the quarry, whilst eagles and falcons of 
different species flew down from the air to take their part of such rich 
booty. The sportsmen then, in their turn, entered into the midst of 
the dead, the dying, and the wounded. The pigeons were piled in 
heaps, each took what he wished, and the pigs were left to satiate 
themselves on the remainder.” 
These massacres are in nowise injurious to the existence of this 
species. In short, according to Audubon, the number of these 
Pigeons becomes doubled or quadrupled in a single year.* 
COLOMBARS. 
This family, established by Levaillant, comprises sore species, 
which belong entirely to the hot countries of Asia and Africa. 
These birds are characterised by thick, strong, bent beaks, which 
enable them to break the envelopes of the fruits which serve them 
for food. They fly less rapidly than birds of the Dove family, and 
coo in a different manner. They inhabit wcods, and build in holes 
in trees. Their flesh is good. The principal species are found in 
Abyssinia, Senegal, and the Indian Archipelago. 
* In this supposition the great naturalist is wrong, for annually these birds are 
becoming much scarcer. In fact, in many parts of the United States, where they 
were abundant in his time, they are now unknown.— Ep. 
