276 COLUMBID.E. 



Passenger Pigeon, occurred nearly at the same time in the 

 menagerie of the President of the Zoological Society, the 

 Earl of Derby, at his seat, Knowsley, in Lancashire. 



The beak is orange ; the iridcs pale yellow ; the head, 

 cheeks, back of the neck, wing-coverts, back, and upper tail- 

 coverts bluish grey ; sides of the neck reddish chestnut, beau- 

 tifully iridescent, reflecting green by transmitted light and 

 purple by reflected light ; lower part of the neck behind, the 

 scapulars and tertials, brownish grey ; wing-coverts with a 

 few oblong spots of black ; primaries lead grey, with lighter- 

 coloured outer margins, the shafts black ; the tail long, cunei- 

 form ; the four middle tail-feathers the longest, lanceolate 

 and pointed ; the outer four on each side graduated ; the 

 middle pair blackish brown ; the next long feather on each 

 outside white, tinged with pearl grey over a portion of the 

 outer web, and lead grey at the base ; the other four outside 

 feathers white, partly tinged with pearl grey, and at the base 

 with lead grey ; chin bluish grey ; throat and breast rich 

 chestnut bay, becoming paler on the belly and flanks ; vent 

 and under tail-coverts white ; legs and toes rather long, and 

 reddish orange ; the claws black. 



The whole length of an adult male bird seventeen inches. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, eight inches and 

 a half; the first and third quill-feathers equal in length, 

 longer than the fourth, but a little shorter than the second, 

 which is the longest in the wing. 



The female is rather smaller than the male, seldom mea- 

 suring more than sixteen inches in length, and her plumage is 

 less pure and bright, being more tinged with brown. 



