OF THE y.i.N>/:.V'//./; rnn:oN. i.:;t 



tin- pigeons liegan to move off in u direction quite different from that in which they had 

 arrived thf evening In-fore, ami at sunrise all that wen- able to fly had disappeared. Tin- lm\\|. 

 ings of il" 1 ol\es m>w reached our ears, uii'l the foxes. l\n\.--. CMU-ars. Uiirs, racoons, and 

 ..p, is-iinis \\ere -,.,11 sneaking otT. \\tiiUt eagles n nil hawks of different species, accompanied by 



11 crowd of vultures, came to supplant th.-iu. and t-njoy their share of (lie spoil." 



The chief food of the Passenger Pigeon is beech-mast, but the bird feeds on numerous 

 other grains ami fruit*. such as amrns. buckwheat, hempseed, maiz**, holly-l>errics. huckle- 

 berries, and chestnuts. Rice is also a favorite article of food, ami pigeons have been killed 

 with rice still undigested in their stomachs, though the nearest rice plantation was distant. 

 several hundred miles. The amount of food consumed by these liinls is almost incredible. 

 Wilson calculates that, taking the breadth of the givat column of piip'otis inentione<l aliove to 

 be onlv om- mil*-, its length to be two hundred and forty miles, and to contain only ihree 

 Pigeons in each square y.n-l taking no account of the several strata of birds, one above the 

 other >. and that each bird consumes half a pint of food daily all which assiiMiptions are In-low 

 the actual amount the quantity of food consumed in each d.iy would be seventeen million 

 bii-liels. Auduboti makes a similar calculation, allowing only two liinls to the square yard. 



Although these birds are found in such multitudes, there is <,nly a single young one each 

 time of hatching, though there are probably two or even three broods in a season. The young 

 birds are extremely fat. and their flesh is very delicious, only, as during their stay every one 



eats pj_'e.,ns ;ill daj :ili.l *] day. they -...,11 pal] ii|..>n lh- taste. S, , plump are these l.jrds. 



that it is often the custom to melt them down for the sake of their fat alone. 



When they begin to shift for themselves they pass through the forest in search of their 

 food, hunting among the leaves for mast, and appear like a prodigious torrent rolling along 

 through the woods, every one striving to be in the front. "Vast numbers of them are shot 

 while in this situation. A person told me that he once rode furiously into one of these rolling 

 multitudes and picked up thirteen pigeons, which had been trampled to death by his horse's 

 feet. In a few minutes they will beat the whole nuts from a tree with their wings, while all is 

 a scramble, both above and below, for the same." The young, the males and females, have 

 a curious habit of dividing into separate flocks. 



One or two specimens of this bird have been taken in Europe, and one individual was shot 

 in 1825. This species has bred in aviaries, and it is rather remarkable that the female made the 

 nest while her mate performed the duties of hodman by bringing materials. The nest is very 

 slight, being only composed of a few twigs rudely woven into a platform, and so loosely made 

 that the eggs and young can be seen from below. In this instance the nest was begun and 

 finished in the same day. The younjr bird was hatched after sixteen days. 



The color of the Passenger Pigeon is as follows : The head, part of the neck and the chin 

 are shite-blue, and the lower part and sides of the neck are also deep slate, "shot" with gold, 

 green, and purplish-crimson, changing at every movement of the bird. The throat, breast, 

 and ribs are reddish-hazel ; the back and upper tail coverts dark slaty-blue, slightly spotted 

 with black upon the shoulders. The primary and secondary quill-feathers of the wings are 

 black, the primary U-ing edged and tipped with dirty white. The lower part of the breast is 

 a pale purplish-red, and the altdomen is white. The long and pointed tail has the two central 

 feathers deep Mack, and the rest white, taking a bluish tint near their liases, and being marl 

 with one black sitot and another of nis \-n-l on the inner w el . The l>eak is black, the eye 

 fiery orange, and a naked space around it is purplish-red. The female is known by her smaller 

 size, her oaken-brown breast and ashen neck, and the slaty hue of the space round the eyes. 

 The total length of the adult male is about sixteen inches. 



The extraordinary powers of flight pooBMnd by the Passenger Pigeons enables them to 

 pass over a wonderful extent of country in a very short time. Pigeons have been killed in the 

 neighborhood of New York, with their crops full of rice, which they must have eaten in the 

 rice-lields of Georgia or Carolina; these districts In-inirtlie nearest in which they could possibly 

 have gathered such food. It is estimated that these birds might easily cross to Europe in 

 three days. 



