ANDEKSON — THE BIRDS OK IOWA. 239 



vSubfamily COLUMBINE. Arboreal Pigeons. 

 Genus Ectopistes Swainson. 



132. (315). Ectopistt's migraiorius {l^mn.). Passenger Pigeon. 



The Passenger Pigeon, the "Wild Pigeon" whose enormous 

 flights were the wonder of the early settler, is now practically ex- 

 tinct in Iowa, although there are a few records of straggling mi- 

 grants during recent years. 



Thomas Say noted the arrival of the species at P^ngineers' Can- 

 tonment, Ma}' 2, 1820. S. F. Baird records a specimen taken at 

 the mouth of the Big Sioux, May 3, 1856, by Dr. Hayden (9th 

 Pac. R. R. Rep., Part 2, Birds, 600). In Decatur and Mahaska 

 counties, T. M. Trippe observes that it "occurs regularly, chiefly 

 in spring and fall, sometimes in large flocks. Not observed to 

 breed" (Proc. Bost. Soc, xv, 1872, 240). John Krider states: "I 

 found it in Iowa in 1875, breeding in Benson Grove [now Leland, 

 Winnebago county] , and also at Clear Lake, where it was more 

 plenty" (Forty Years' Notes, 55). Keyes and Williams state: 

 "Large flocks occasionally appear in different parts of the state. 

 A few are usually seen each spiking, and a few pairs sometimes 

 breed within the limits of the state. A nest with one egg was 

 taken at Charles City, June 14, 1879" (Bds. of Iowa, 1S89, 125). 

 A few of the later records are given below: 



Blackhawk — "our latest record is eighteen 3'ears old" (Peck). 

 Des Moines — Last record, a flock of about twenty on Mi.ssi.ssippi 

 between Burlington and Dallas in fall of 1891 (Bart.sch, Iowa Orn., 

 ii, 4, 1895, 1-2). Franklin — "a flock of about twenty birds was 

 seen frequently in Mayne's Grove during the spring of 1893 

 and one was found dead; this is m}- only record" (Shoemaker). 

 Kossuth — "three were seen April 6, 1903" (Bingaman). Lee— 

 "saw a single female Maj' 19, 1896, and shot a single young male 

 Sept. 7, same j^ear. The}' are said to have been common in 1884" 

 (Praeger); "last ones seen May 13, 1S99" (Currier). Linn — "two 

 seen in May, igoi, a couple miles below Cedar Rapids, the only 

 ones I ever saw in Iowa' ' (Berry). Poweshiek — "I saw two flocks 

 and killed six birds about 1881" (Lynds Jones). Winneshiek — 

 "I have never seen this species. It was very common 15-20 years 

 ago. A farmer tells me of seeing a small flock in April, 1895. 

 He told me that it used to be seen in immense flocks in xA.pril and 



