408 Craig, Emotion in the Passenger Pigeon. [oct. 



THE EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION IN THE PIGEONS. 



III. THE PASSENGER PIGEON (ECTOPISTES 



MIGRATORIUS LINN.). 



by wallace craig. 

 Introduction. 



If the Passenger Pigeon is not yet extinct, it is highly important 

 that there be published an account of its peculiar voice, for this 

 may be of great assistance in re-discovering the birds. Thus, if 

 you tell a boy to look for a bird of the same general appearance 

 as the Mourning Dove but larger, he will be sure to mistake some 

 large-appearing Mourning Dove for the Passenger Pigeon. But 

 tell him to look for a pigeon that shrieks and chatters and clucks 

 instead of cooing, and the boy will be less likely to make a mistake. 

 The voice has this further advantage as a mark of identification, 

 that it cannot be produced in a dead bird, and thus forms an incen- 

 tive to keep the bird alive. 



If the species is extinct, it is equally important to publish what- 

 ever is known of its voice, as a matter of permanent record. The 

 Passenger Pigeon is well known to have been a unique species 

 in one respect — its prodigious gregariousness. But the fact 

 is that it was a marked bird in every respect. Ectopistes repre- 

 sents a line of evolution which has diverged widely, in habits at 

 least, from the main paths of Columbine descent. Its voice was 

 more distinctive than that of any other species in Professor Whit- 

 man's large collection of living pigeons from all parts of the world. 

 This marked peculiarity of the species makes it infinitely regrettable 

 if the whole race, through sheer wantonness, has been annihilated. 



The accounts hitherto published of the voice and mating behavior 

 of the Passenger Pigeon are meagre, largely incorrect, and totally 

 inadequate for that detailed comparative study which scientific 

 considerations demand. The best life-history, so far as concerns 

 the mating behavior, is probably that of Bendire (quoted largely 

 from Wm. Brewster), but even this, as is seen in the very manner 

 of its composition, is fragmentary. Mershon has done a great 



