THE PIGEONS. 



426 



" In April 

 Come lie will ; 

 ]n May 



He sings all day ; 

 In June 



He alters his tune ; 



In July 



He prepares to fly ; 



In August 



Go he must." 



In general appearance the Cuckoo bears some resemblance to a bird 

 of prey, but it has little of the predaceous nature. It is rather curious 

 that small birds have a tendency to treat the Cuckoo much as they 

 treat the hawks and owls, following it wherever it flies in the open 

 country, and attending it through the air. 



The color of the plumage is bluish gray above, with the exception 

 of the wings and tail, which are black and barred with white on the 

 exterior feathers. The chin, neck, and breast are ashen gray, and the 

 abdomen and under wing-coverts are white barred with slaty gray. 



COLUMB^, OR DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



The large order of Columbse, or the Pigeon tribe, now comes under 

 our notice. It contains many beautiful and interesting birds, but, as 

 its members are so extremely numerous, only a few typical examples 

 can be mentioned. 



All the Pigeons may be distinguished from the poultry, and the gallina- 

 ceous birds in general, by 

 the form of the bill, which 

 is arched toward the tip 

 and has a convex swell- 

 ing at the base, caused by 

 a gristly kind of plate 

 which covers the nasal 

 cavities, and which in 

 some species is very curi- 

 ously developed. 



Among the most extra- 

 ordinary of birds the Pas- 

 senger Pigeon may take 

 very high rank, not on ac- /.^^^^.y/.T'M^I^^^^ * 



count of its size or beautv, „ ^ ' /r. •, • 7 v 



1 ^ , p ^, " The Passenge-r Pigeon (Ectopisies migratonus). 



but because oi the extra- 

 ordinary multitudes in which it sometimes migrates from one place to 

 another. The scenes which take place during these migrations are 

 so strange, so wonderful, and so entirely unlike any events on this 

 side of the Atlantic, that they could not be believed but for the trust- 

 worthy testimony by which they are corroborated. 



Wilson, who was fortunate enough to witness some of these migra- 



36* 



