464 



P I G E ON. 



ones most so. The female is an inch shorter, and is 

 otherwise only distinguished by the brilliancy of her 

 colour ; she also wants the rich silky blue on the 

 crown, and much of the splendour of the neck ; the 

 tail is also somewhat shorter, and the white with 

 which it is marked less pure." 



These birds do not begin their winter migration 

 from any part of the United Slates until the frost 

 begins to set in ; and except it be the states of the 

 extreme north, they do not entirely quit any place 

 during the winter. In the Carolinas and Georgia the 

 woods swarm with them at this season, and the 

 rustling of their wings is heard in all quarters. They 

 are not very timid then ; and as they are in numerous 

 flocks very close together, they become an easy prey 

 to the fowler at the very season when their flesh is in 

 the best condition. They move northward in March 

 or early in April, ana by this time the large flocks 

 are broken up. " Here," says Wilson, " they com- 

 monly fly in pairs ; resort constantly to public roads 

 to dust themselves and procure gravel ; are often seen 

 in the farmer's yard before the door, the stable, barn, 

 and other outhouses in search of food, seeming little 

 inferior in familiarity, at such times, to the domestic 

 pigeon. They often mix with the poultry while they 

 are fed in the morning, visit the farm-yard and ad- 

 joining road many times a day, and the pump, creek, 

 horse-trough, and rills for water. Their flight is 

 quick, vigorous, and always accompanied by a pecu- 

 liar whistling of the wings, by which they can easily 

 be distinguished from the wild pigeon (Passenger 

 Turtle). They fly with great swiftness, alight on 

 trees, fences, or on the ground indiscriminately ; are 

 exceedingly fond of buck wheat, hempseed, and In- 

 dian corn ; feed on the berries of the holly, poke, 

 buckle berries, partridge berries, and the small acorns 

 of the live oak and shrub oak. The}' devour large 

 quantities of gravel, and sometimes pay a visit to the 

 kitchen garden for peas, for which they have a par- 

 ticular regard." In different latitudes of the long 

 range of the United States, they of course begin to 

 breed at different times ; but in the Middle States 

 they begin in the end of April and beginning of May. 

 Their nests are formed of sticks and very rude; they 

 are always in concealment, but they do not confine 

 themselves to the depths of groves like the eastern 

 turtles, for they nestle in gardens if the trees are 

 close enough, in ivy upon wall, or in some instances 

 under a bush upon the ground. In their habits they 

 are thus very different from the turtles of the east ; 

 but the greater number of them are in the woods, 

 and we must allow their unrivalled historian to de- 

 scribe their song in his own language. He mentions 

 hat those who wander in the American woods in the 

 spring, will there hear many a singular and sprightly 

 performer, " but none so mournful as this. The 

 hopeless woo of settled sorrow, swelling the heart of 

 female innocence itself, could not assume tones more 

 sad, more tender and affecting. Its notes are four ; 

 the first is somewhat the highest and preparatory, 

 seeming to be uttered with an inspiration of the breath, 

 as if the afflicted creature were just recovering its 

 voice from the last convulsive sobs of distress ; this is 

 followed by three long, deep, and mournful meanings, 

 that no person of sensibility can listen to without 

 sympathy : a pause of a few minutes ensues, and 

 again the solemn voice of sorrow is renewed as before. 

 This is usually heard in the deepest parts of the 

 woods, frequently about noon and towards evening." 



None but a master of the highest order, both as an 

 observant naturalist, and as deeply read in the feel- 

 ings of the human heart and their sources, would 

 have rendered the song in this strain. Yet, after all, 

 it is rendered according to the manner of men, and 

 not according to the physiology of the bird ; for it 

 must be recollected that these notes, sad as is their 

 tone, and mournful as is their cadence, are the epi- 

 thalamium of the delighted turtle. 



Passenger Turtle. In some respects this bird is 

 the marvel of the whole Columbidine race, highly 

 interesting as many of them are, and as all would 

 doubtless be, were we acquainted \\ith their man- 

 ners. The bird is beautiful in its colours, graceful in 

 its form, furnished to admiration in its powers of 

 flight, and far more a child of wild nature than the 

 Carolina turtle. The especial marvel, however, is 

 in its multitudes multitudes which no man can num- 

 ber ; and when Alexander Wilson lays the wand of the 

 enchanter upon the mighty valley of the Mississippi, 

 and conjures it up to the understanding and the 

 feeling of the reader, with far more certain and more 

 concentrated and striking effect than if it were 

 painted on canvas or modelled in wax, these pigeons 

 form a feature in it which no one who knows can by 

 possibility forget. It is probable that the multitudes 

 may not be more numerous than those of the petrels 

 in Bass's Strait, of which Captain Flinders, who also 

 was a kind of Wilson in his way, gives so graphic 

 a description. But, vast as the multitude of these 

 was, it was only as a passing cloud to the gallant 

 captain ; he was not able to follow it up ; and, even 

 though he had, the flight of birds over the surface of 

 the sea is lame and storyless as compared with the 

 movements of the unnumbered myriads of those 

 pigeons in the great central valley of America. 



None of the names which have been bestowed 

 upon this species is sufficiently, or at all descriptive 

 of it. Passenger, the English expression, and " mi- 

 gratoria," the Latin name, Tall equally short, inasmuch 

 as every known turtle is, to a greater or less extent, 

 migratory as well as this one. The " swarm " turtle, 

 the "flood" turtle, or even the "deluge" turtle, 

 would be a more appropriate appellation ; for, as we 

 shall see, the weight of their numbers breaks down 

 the forest with scarcely less havoc than if the tide of 

 the Mississippi were turned against it. 



Birds so numerous demand both a wide pasture 

 and powerful means of migration, and certainly these 

 are not stinted in either of those respects. In lati- 

 tude their pasture extends from the thirtieth to the 

 sixtieth degree, which is upwards of two thousand 

 miles ; and the extensive breadth in longitude cannot 

 be estimated at less than fifteen hundred. Three 

 millions of square miles is thus the extent of territory 

 of which the passenger turtle has command ; and 

 that territory has its dimensions so situated as that 

 the largest one is the line upon which the birds 

 migrate. 



These birds in so far resemble the rock pigeon, 

 that they are social both in their breeding-places and 

 on their migrations ; but we are not aware that a 

 proper experiment has been made to ascertain whether 

 this sociality of theirs could be made the basis of 

 domestication. As the case stands at present, indeed, 

 there is but little temptation to make such an experi- 

 ment, because their numbers are so great, and they 

 can be procured, and often actually gathered from the 

 ground in such abundance, that there is little or no 



