210 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



into a compact flock, their fighting proclivities for once over- 

 come by their common need of warmth. The flying of one 

 down into the street and seemingly engaged in eating is the 

 signal for all to follow, a few at a time. 



Though it is against the city ordinances to kill Doves it is 

 needless to state that many a bird is potted by some outraged 

 citizen who has stood the noisy nuisance until compelled to 

 act in self defence regardless of such law. The condition of 

 such things does not seem to be as bad in other places than 

 Bangor though I have noticed it in a lesser degree in many 

 other places through the State. 



Genus ECTOPISTES Swainson. 



315. Ectopistes migratorms (Linn.). Passenger Pigeon; 



Wild Pigeon. 



Plumage of adult male : above bluish slate color with metallic reflections 

 on the back and sides of the neck ; middle of back tinged with olive brown ; 

 inner tail feathers fuscous, the outer blackish at base ranging into slaty blue 

 outward, with broad whitish tips; lower belly white; rest of under parts 

 delicate vinaceous. Plumage of adult female : differs from that of male in 

 the head being light drab, with scarcely any bluish tinge to the occiput ; the 

 upper parts more olive brown and far less metallic; breast pale grayish 

 brown. Immature plumage : differs from the female in the feathers of the 

 head, neck, scapulars, wing coverts and chest being slightly tipped with 

 whitish. Wing 8.00 to 8.50; culmen 7.00. 



Geog. Dist. — Formerly eastern North America, northward to Hudson Bay 

 and west to the Plains ; straggler to Nevada and Washington ; now seldom 

 reported and scattered over the more northern parts of their former range. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; rare migrant, (Johnson). Cumberland; 

 none in ten years, (Mead) (this was written in 1897). Franklin; rare 

 migrant, (Richards). Hancock; formerly nested in great abundance accord- 

 ing to old hunters, none since about 1887, (Knight). Kennebec; (Hamlin's 

 List). Knox; rare in summer, (Rackliff). Oxford ; rare migrant, specimens 

 observed by different persons in the fall of 1891, (Johnson). Penobscot; 

 formerly nesting by thousands, none for twenty years, (Knight). Piscata- 

 quis ; rare, last seen in 1884, (Homer). Washington ; not uncommon formerly 

 all gone now, (Boardman). York; last seen in September, 1885, (Adams). 



Of the hordes of Passenger Pigeons which formerly passed 



through the State in large flocks and nested abundantly within 



