BIRDS. 



iLLUSTRflTED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



Voi,. III. 



JANUARY, 1898. 



No. i. 



THE CROWNED PIGEON. 



B regret that a full mono- 

 graph of this remarkable 

 bird cannot be given in 

 this number. It is the 

 giant among Pigeons and has some 

 characteristics, on account of its great 

 size, not common to the family. Very 

 little has been written about it, and it 

 would be a real service to ornithology 

 if some one familiar with the subject 

 would communicate his knowledge to 

 the public. These birds pair for life, 

 and the loss or death of a mate is in 

 many cases mourned and grieved over, 

 the survivor frequently refusing to be 

 consoled. 



The Pigeon family is an exceedingly 

 interesting one, of great variety of form 

 and color, undergoing constant change 

 by inter-breeding. There are about 

 three hundred known species of 

 Pigeons and Doves, about one third of 

 which number are found in the New 

 World. In North America but twelve 



species occur, a family small enough 

 to find room in BIRDS to sit for their 

 pictures. Some of these birds, says 

 Chapman, are arboreal, others are 

 strictly terrestrial. Some seek the 

 forests and others prefer the fields and 

 clearings. Some nest in colonies, 

 others in isolated pairs, but most species 

 are found in flocks of greater or less 

 size after the nesting season. When 

 drinking, they do not raise the head as 

 others do to swallow, but keep the bill 

 immersed until the draught is finished. 

 The young are born naked and are 

 fed by regurgitation. 



Living specimens of this the largest 

 species of Pigeons may some day be 

 brought to the United States and made 

 to increase as the Ring-necked Eng- 

 lish Pheasant has already been domes- 

 ticated in their own country. It has 

 been suggested that their introduction 

 among us would be a comparatively 

 easy matter. 



