RASORES. 373 



of a bluish-slate color, with white underneath, though there are 

 considerable variations of color. The Passenger Pigeons have 

 great acuteness of vision ; they are also noted for their rapid 

 flight. These Pigeons have been killed in New York with Caro- 

 lina rice still in their crops. As the digestion of these birds is 

 extremely rapid, they must have flown between three and four 

 hundred miles in six hours, giving an average speed of a mile in 

 a minute. Wilson and Audubon have both felicitously described 

 the arrivals and departures of the almost innumerable multitudes 

 of Wild Pigeons which they saw. Wilson estimated one multi- 

 tude seen by him to contain above two hundred thousand millions 

 of pigeons! Audubon judged that a flock seen by him contained 

 one billion one hundred and fifteen millions!! The breeding 

 places of these birds are sometimes of very great extent. One 

 of these near Shelby viile, Kentucky, Wilson judged to have been 

 several miles in extent, and upwards of forty miles in length. 

 These birds usually raise two broods in a year. Their nests 

 are composed of a few dry twigs crossing each other, and are 

 supported by forks in the branches of trees. On the same tree, 

 it is said, from fifty to an hundred nests may often be seen. 



The BRONZE- WINGED PIGEON, or Ground Dove, Phaps (Gr. a 

 pigeon) chalcoptera, (Gr. brazen- winged,) group Perislerina, is 

 an extremely beautiful species found in Australia. The predomi- 

 nant colors are gray tinged with purple, and brown tinged with 

 green ; the wing coverts are bluish gray, but the outer webs 

 of every feather have a large egg-shaped spot, exhibiting vari- 

 ous shades of metallic brilliancy according to the direction of 

 the light. The length of this bird is eighteen inches. Its cooing 

 is so loud that when heard at a distance it has been compared to 

 the lowing of a cow. 



The CROWNED PIGEON, Lopliyrus, (Gr. having a remarkable 

 crest,) cristatus, is a native to the East Indian islands. The size 

 of this bird, (28 inches long,) compares with that of a turkey, 

 and its flesh is of excellent flavor. The greater part of the plu- 

 mage is of a fine purple or bluish ash; other portions are of a 

 dark reddish-brick color, It coos and shows the manners of pig- 

 eons, but in structure seems to approach the Curassows. 



The WATTLED GROUNL PIGEON, Geophilus, (Gr. lover of the 

 ground,) carunculata, (Lat. wattled,) is a native of South Africa, 

 in size about as large as a turtle dove, but with the body stouter 

 and more rounded. In its bill and plumage it conforms to the 

 Pigeons, but in the naked red wattles of the forehead and chin, 

 and in some other respects, it appears to approach the Gallina- 

 ceous Birds. 



