Vol. XXVII] General Notes. Ill 



Survey of the Territories (V, p. 794), the Swedish original. The titles 

 of the two are as follows: — 



1. Beskrifning pa de vilda Dufvor, Som somliga ar i sa otrolig stor 

 myckenhet komma til de Sodra Engelska nybyggen i Norra America. Af 

 Pehr Kalm. < K. Vetensk. Acad. Handlingar, 1759, XX, pp. 275-295, 1759. 



This is the original. 



2. Beschreibung der wilden Tauben, die manche Jahre in unglaublicher 

 Menge, in die neuen siidlichen englischen Pflanzoerter des nordlichen 

 Amerika kommen, von Peter Kalm. < K. Schwed. Akad. Wissensch. 

 Abhandl., 1759, XXI, p. 268-285, 1762. 



A translation of the preceding. 



Kalm records his observations urder the name "Columba (macroura)" 

 and cites as synonyms "Columba macroura," Edwards, and " Palumbus 

 migratorius" Catesby, thus confounding the Passenger Pigeon with the 

 Zenaidura macroura. 1 Full descriptions of the male and female are 

 given in Latin (pp. 275-279) and then the Swedish text follows, giving 

 many details of the birds' habits and abundance. 



As both articles by Kalm are inaccessible to most ornithologists, a 

 translation would be desirable, even at this late day, and Mr. S. M. 

 Gronberger, an assistant of the Smithsonian Institution, to whom I 

 showed the Swedish article, is willing to turn it into English for the 

 readers of 'The Auk,' if so desired. — Theodore Gill, Washington, D. C. 



[As shown by this communication, the readers of ' The Auk ' are in- 

 debted to Dr. Gill as well as to Mr. Gronberger for the translation of 

 Peter Kalm's paper on the Passenger Pigeon published antea, pp. 53-66. 

 — Edd.] 



Thoreau's Notes on the Passenger Pigeon. — In connection with Mr. 

 A. H. Wright's compilation of ' Some Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon,' 

 printed in 'The Auk' for October, 1910, Thoreau's records of this spe- 

 cies as they appear in his 'Notes on New England Birds' (Boston, 1910) 

 may be of interest, though covering a more recent period. These consist 

 of thirty-eight entries in his Journal, occupying ten pages of the book and 

 extending from 1845 through 1860. They probably give a pretty good 

 notion of the abundance of the bird in the neighborhood of Concord, Mass., 

 during that period. Apparently the Pigeons did not breed there very 

 extensively at that time, though under date of Nov. 8, 1859, it is stated 

 that "Coombs [one of the Concord pigeon-catchers] says that quite a little 

 flock of pigeons bred here last summer." They were found from March 

 through September, but most abundantly by far in the latter month. 

 There were several stands in the neighborhood, and catching began about 

 the middle of August. The notes contain nothing to indicate any marked 

 diminution in their numbers between 1845 and 1860, and the last entry — 

 on Sept. 4 of the latter year — records 'flocks of pigeons' seen on the 2d 

 and 3d. — Francis H. Allen, West Roxbury, Mass. 



1 C. migratorius was not recognized as a distinct species by Linnaeus till 1766. 



