TURTLE-DOVES. 



263 



white ; under wing-coverts bluish-grey ; bill black ; feet 

 lake-red ; irides orange ; orbital skin red. Female 

 above mostly pale brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 grey ; sides of neck metallic lilacine violaceous ; median 

 and greater wing-coverts brownish-grey ; the median 

 coverts, scapulars and tertials with about fifty-one 

 velvety black spots ; flights brown, the inner primaries 

 dull greyish at base of inner web ; central tail-feathers 

 browner, otherwise the tail as in the male ; throat 

 reddish-white ; back of fore neck and breast pale brown, 

 fading into white on the abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts. Hab., " Eastern North America, from Hudson's 

 Bay southward, and westward to the Great Plains, 

 straggling westward to Nevada and Washington Ter- 

 ritory. Accidental in Cuba." (Salvadori.) 



Major Charles Bendire ("Life Histories of North 

 American Birds," Vol. I., pp. 133-158) says that "the 

 extermination of the Passenger Pigeon has progressed 

 so rapidly during the past twenty years that it looks 

 now as if their total extermination might be accom- 

 plished within the present century. The only thing 

 which retards their complete extinction is that it no 

 longer pays to net these birds, they being too scarce 

 for this now, at least in the more settled portions of 

 the country, and also, perhaps, that from constant and 

 unremitting persecution on their breeding grounds they 

 have changed their habits somewhat, the majority no 

 longer breeding in colonies, but scattering over the 

 country and breeding in isolated pairs. 



"In order to show . . . the immense destruction 

 of the Passenger Pigeon in a single year and at one, 

 roost only, I quote the following extract from an 

 interesting article ' On the habits, methods of capture, 

 and nesting of the Wild Pigeon/ with an account of the 

 Michigan nesting of 1878, by Professor H. B. Roney, 

 in the Chicago Field, Vol. X., pp. 345-347) : ' The 

 nesting area, situated near Petosky, covered something 

 like 100,000 acres of land, and included not less than 

 150, 000 acres within its limits, being in length about 40 

 miles by 3 to 10 in width. The number of dead birds 

 sent by rail was estimated at 12,500 daily or 1,500,000 

 for the summer, besides 80,352 live birds; an equal 

 number was sent by water. We have,' says the writer, 

 'adding the thousands of dead and wounded ones not 

 secured, and the myriads of squabs left dead in the 

 nest, at the lowest possible estimate a grand total of 

 1,000,000,000 Pigeons sacrified to Mammon durino- the 

 nesting of 1878.' 



" The last-mentioned figure is undoubtedly far above 

 the actual number killed during that or any other year, 

 but even granting that but a million were killed at this 

 roost, the slaughter is enormous enough, and it is not 

 strange that the number of these Pigeons are now few 

 compared with former years." 



When one contemplates such wholesale massacres as 

 the above, one cannot wonder at the stringent laws for 

 the protection of their wild birds that have been enacted 

 in the United States. The author continues : " Mr. 

 Frank J. Thompson, in charge of the Zoological Gardens 

 at Cincinnati, Ohio, gives the following account of the 

 breeding of the Wild Pigeon in confinement : ' During 

 the spring of 1877, the society purchased three pairs ot 

 trapped birds, which were placed in one of the outer 

 aviaries. Early in March, 1878, I noticed that they 

 were mating, and procuring some twigs, I wove three 

 rough plat-forms, and fastened them up in convenient 

 places, at the same time throwing a further supply of 

 building material on the floor. Within twenty-four 

 hours, two of the platforms -were selected; the male 

 carrying the material, whilst the female busied herself 

 in placing it. A single egg was soon laid in each nest 



and incubation commenced. On March 16, there was 

 quite a heavy fall of snow, and on the next morning I 

 was unable to see the birds on their nests on account 

 of the accumulation of the snow piled on the platforms 

 around them. Within a couple of days it had all dis- 

 appeared, and for the next four or five nights a self- 

 registering thermometer, hanging in the aviary, marked 

 from 14 deg. to 19 deg. In spite of these drawbacks 

 both of the eggs were hatched and the young ones 

 reared. They have since continued to breed regularly, 

 and now I have twenty birds, having lost several eggs 

 from falling through their illy-contrived nests, and one 

 old male.' 



" Their food consists of beechnuts, acorns, wild 

 cherries, and berries of various kinds, as well as different 

 kinds of grain. They are said to be very fond of, and 

 feed extensively on, angle worms, vast numbers of which 

 frequently come to the surface after heavy rains, also 

 on hairless caterpillars. 



" Their notes during the mating season are said to be 

 n, short 'coo-coo,' and the ordinary call note is a 

 ' kee-kee-kee,' the first syllable being louder and the 

 last fainter than the middle one. 



" Opinions differ as to the number of broods in a 

 season ; while the majority of observers assert that 

 but one, a few others say that two, are usually raised. 

 The eggs vary in number from one to two in a set, and 

 incubation lasts from, eighteen to twenty days, both 

 sexes assisting. These eggs are pure white in colour, 

 slightly glossy, and usually elliptical oval in shape ; 

 some may be called broad elliptical oval. 



" The average measurements of twenty specimens in 

 the U.S. National Museum collection is 37.5 by 26.5 

 millimetres. The largest egg measures 39.5 by 28.5, 

 the smallest 33.5 by 26 millimetres." 



The first example of this species to arrive at the 

 Regent's Park Gardens was a female received in 

 exchange in 1852 ; this was followed by a male in 1857, 

 and others were added in later years, the last recorded 

 in the ninth edition of the "List of Animals" being 

 three examples presented by F. J. Thompson, Esq. 

 (probably of the Zoological Gardens previously referred 

 to), in 1883. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



TURTLE-DOVES AND ALLIES 



(Peristeridd'}. 



This family is characterised by the length of the 

 foot proper being equal to, or longer than, the middle 

 toe ; the number of tail-feathers ranges from twelve to 

 twenty. Although Count Salvadori classes these birds 

 generally as " Ground Pigeons," very many of them 

 are distinctly more arboreal than terrestrial in their 

 habits. The family is divided into seven sub- 

 families, the distinctnve characters of which appear to 

 me to be for the greater part quite unimportant, being 

 based largely upon coloration ; a study of the habits 

 would yield far more reliable differences upon which 

 to base the groups. The sub-families Zenaiclince and 

 Turturiiwe are so closely related that I do not hesitate 

 to include them in the same chapter. 



In their wild state these birds feed upon seeds of 

 weeds, sometimes grain, green shoots, beech- 

 nuts (in some cases small acorns), wild peas, berries, 

 small worms, and smooth caterpillars, in captivity 



