56 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



The best-known nest of this description is that of 

 the cushat, ring-dove, or wood-pigeon (Columba Pa- 

 lumbus, LINN.). The nest of this bird is a very slight 

 structure, and still less calculated for warmth or 

 shelter, the hot nature of the parent birds, according 

 to Albertus Magnus, not requiring this. It may, with 

 the utmost propriety, be called a platform, being com- 

 posed of a flat pile of twigs, not artfully interwoven, 

 as is stated in some books, but laid crossways upon 

 one another in a rather loose manner, though not 

 without neatness and attention to symmetry; for, 

 when completed, the structure is always very nearly 

 circular. The larger and longest twigs are laid as a 

 foundation, the sizes chosen becoming smaller as 

 the work advances. It is mentioned that in some 

 instances the eggs may be seen through the twigs 

 from below. 



The American pigeons are also platform builders ; 

 for example, the Carolina pigeon (Columba Caroli- 

 nensis), which, according to Wilson, commences 

 building about the beginning of May, the nest being 

 " very rudely constructed, generally in an evergreen, 

 among the thick foliage of the vine, in an orchard 

 on the horizontal branches of an apple-tree, and in 

 some instances on the ground. It is composed of 

 small twigs, laid with little art, on which are scat- 

 tered dry fibrous roots of plants, and in this almost flat 

 bed are deposited two eggs of a snowy whiteness."* 



A similar mode of building is practised by the 

 American passenger pigeon (Columba migratoria), 

 the most prolific of the whole family, and perhaps 

 of all other birds, if the numbers reared be regarded, 

 though it seems to be ascertained that the female 

 only lays a single egg at one hatch. This singular 

 bird inhabits a wide and extensive region of North 

 America, though it does not seem to be known 

 westward of the Great Stony Mountains; but 

 spreads all over Canada, and ranges as far south 

 as the Gulf of Mexico. 



* Wilson's Amer. Oraith., v., 93. 



