242 ZENAIDIDM. 



about one hundrod feet in diameter, called the Salt Spring, where brackish water rises, 

 which, iu time, has formed a sort of mound, a foot or two high and thirty or forty feet in 

 diauK'tcr, covered with a tliin growtli of grass. During the nesting season, this spot is vis- 

 ited in the moniing by countless numbers of Pigeons. At day-break, a single bird appears- 

 from the nesting, some miles distant, to reconnoiter and, after circling around a moment, 

 disappears. In an incredibly short time, the birds begin to come; first in small numbers,, 

 then increasing rapidly until, in a few moments, they come in a living avalanche, covering 

 the trees until the branches break with their numbers. Then one ventures cautiously, 

 with a downward swoop as if to settle, but circles over the ground and returns to his perch. 

 This is repeated several times by others, when finally one alights on the nmund and others 

 follow slowly, until at last, a perfect torrent falls upon the spot, covering it so deeply as 

 to endanger the lives of many of them by suffocation; then the whole enormous body sud- 

 denly rises with a deafening roar and alights on the trees. This is repeated until all are 

 satisfied iinless they are disturbed. 



"Tliis peculiar spot was dis<^'Overed in 1870 by the professional Pigeon-hunters and 

 now this little space brings a good income to the owners who lease it to parties engaged 

 in netting Pigeons, and one of the above mentioned parties, caught with one spring of the 

 net, in 1870, three hundred and forty-two birds. At regular intervals during the day,, 

 the male birds relieve the females in the process of incubation and at these times, the whole 

 heavens, as far as eye can reach, is literally filled with small flocks going to and from the 

 nesting; then after a few moments, not a bird can be seen until the change again takes 

 place. I think the changes are at nine o'clock in the morning and four in the afternoon. 

 Millions of young birds are killed in the nest and the lazy Red Man is particularly the cause 

 of their destruction. The old birds are said to leave the beech-nuts in the immediate vi- 

 cinity of the nesting for the young, going great distances, themselves, to feed, for the whole 

 of Northern Michigan is thickly covered with beech-trees." 



Although I have, on one or two occasions, seen Wild Pigeons even as far north as 

 Massachusetts in winter, this is beyond their usual range at this time, for the greater 

 portion pass the cold season in the South. 



FAMILY II. ZENAIDIDM. THE MOURNING DOVES. 



The sternum is 7-ather narroiu, not exceeding one half the length of the top of the keel, 

 the tip of ivhich is pointed. 



Members of this family are usually quite small or of medium size. The tarsus is lon- 

 ger than that of the preceding family and is entirely naked, as all the species spend a great 

 portion of their time upon the ground. 



GENUS I. ZENAIDURA. THE TURTLE DOVES. 



Gen. Cii. Bi/I, weak, sliyhllij rmindcd. Tail, very lony, equaliny the ininys; it is pninteti and the number of feathers is 

 fourteen. 



Jlembers of this genas aro remarkable on account of having fourteen tail feathers, as otlier Pigeons and Doves oceur- 

 Ting within our Hmits, have only twelve. There is but one species in North Ameriea. 



43 



