318 COLUMBIA. 



inclosure appropriated at the Gardens to the Pigeons. The 

 female was the nest-builder. The male bird performed the 

 most laborious part of the work : he collected and con- 

 veyed to the spot all the materials, principally sticks and 

 straw, of which the nest was composed. He alighted on 

 the back of the female with each fresh supply, so as not to 

 disarrange any part of the nest which she had formed. 

 They began their task in the morning, and completed it 

 the same evening. One white egg, measuring one inch 

 and five-eighths by one inch and a half, was laid on the 

 morning of the 26th, and the female commenced sitting 

 immediately. A young bird was hatched in sixteen days. 

 The male relieved the female during the period of incu- 

 bation. 



Another instance of the breeding in this country of the 

 Passenger Pigeon, occurred nearly at the same time in the 

 menagerie of the then President of the Zoological So- 

 ciety, the late Earl of Derby, at his seat, Knowsley, in 

 Lancashire. 



The beak is orange ; the irides pale yellow ; the head, 

 cheeks, back of the neck, wing-coverts, back, and upper 

 tail-coverts bluish grey ; sides of the neck reddish chestnut, 

 beautifully iridescent, reflecting green by transmitted light 

 and purple by reflected light ; lower part of the neck 

 behind, the scapulars and tertials, brownish grey; wing- 

 coverts with a few oblong spots of black ; primaries lead 

 grey, with lighter-coloured outer margins, the shafts black ; 

 the tail long, cuneiform ; the four middle tail-feathers the 

 longest, lanceolate and pointed ; the outer four on each 

 side graduated ; the middle pair blackish brown ; the next 

 long feather on each outside white, tinged with pearl grey 

 over a portion of the outer web, and lead grey at the base ; 

 the other four outside feathers white, partly tinged with 

 pearl grey, and at the base with lead grey ; chin bluish 



