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and in spring’ separate, each selecting a particular 
spot, where he struts and invites the female by 
crowing and clapping his wings. The female makes 
a very inartificial nest upon the ground, in long grass 
or thick underwood, and not unfrequently in fields 
of clover. She lays from ten to fifteen eggs, of a 
pale greenish brown, sometimes greyish white, and 
occasionally yellowish grey. In some instances 
the Pheasant, and more rarely the black Grouse, 
has been crossed with the domestic fowl, and some- 
times the female assumes the plumage of the male. 
PIGEON, PASSENGER. 
CoLUMBA miGRaToRia, Lin. 
This remarkable bird inhabits a wide and exten- 
sive region of North America, spreading over the 
whole of Canada, extending to the Gulf of Mexico 
southwards, and westward to the Rocky Mountains, 
which appear to be the limit of its range in that 
direction. In almost every part of the United 
States this species occasionally visits and breeds. 
One or two specimens have been captured in 
Britain; and it has been found in Norway and 
Russia. The most remarkable characteristic of 
these birds is their habit of associating together, 
both in their migrations and during the period of 
incubation, im such prodigious numbers as 
