Pigeons.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



387 



ing at the pilgrims, which there flew lower as they 

 passed the river. Multitudes were destroyed. For 

 a week or more the population fed on no other 

 flesh than that of pigeons, and talked of nothing 

 but pigeons. The atmosphere during this time was 

 strongly impregnated with the peculiar odour which 

 emanates from the species." After these details 

 Mr. Audubon proceeds to reckon the number of 

 individuals in a single flock, and that not a large 

 one, extending one mile in breadth and one hundred 

 and eighty miles in length, allowing two pigeons to 

 each square yard. The product is one billion one 

 hundred and fifteen millions one hundred and 

 thirty-six thousand. The flock takes three hours 

 in passing any given spot. What must be the 

 quantity of food required for such a legion ! " As 

 every pigeon daily consumes fully half a pint of 

 food, the quantity necessary for supplying this vast 

 multitude must be eight millions seven hundred 

 and twelve thousand bushels per day." 



Where food, such as beech-mast, is abundant, 

 strewing the ground, these flocks wheel round and 

 alight, and the woods are filled with their numbers. 

 About the middle of the day, after their repast is 

 finished, they settle on the trees to enjoy rest and 

 digest their food. "As the sun begins to sink 

 beneath the horizon they depart en masse for the 

 roosting place, which not unfrequently is hundreds 

 of miles distant, as has been ascertained by persons 

 who have kept an account of their arrivals and 

 departures. 



" One of these curious roosting-places on the 

 banks of the Green River in Kentucky I repeatedly 

 visited. It was, as is always the case, a portion of 

 the forest where the trees are of great magnitude, 

 and where there was little underwood. I rode 

 through it upwards of forty miles, and found its 

 average breadth to be rather more than three miles. 

 My first view of it was about a fortnight subsequent 

 to the period when they had made choice of it, 

 and I arrived there nearly two hours before sunset. 

 Few pigeons were then to be seen, but a great 

 number of persons with horses and waggons, guns 

 and ammunition, had already established encamp- 

 ments on the borders. Two farmers, from the 

 vicinity of Russelsville, distant more than a hundred 

 miles, had driven upwards of three hundred hogs to 

 be fattened on the pigeons that were to be slaugh- 

 tered. Here and there the people employed in 

 plucking and salting what had already been procured 

 were seen sitting in the midst of large piles of these 

 birds. Many trees two feet in diameter I observed 

 were broken off at no great distance from the 

 ground ; and the branches of many of the largest 

 and tallest had given way as if the forest had been 

 swept by a tornado. Everything proved to me that 

 the number of birds resorting to this part of the 

 forest must be immense beyond conception. As 

 the period of their arrival approached, their foes 

 anxiously prepared to receive them; some were 

 furnished with iron pots containing sulphur — others 

 with torches of pine-knots — many with poles, and 

 the rest with guns. The sun was lost to our view, 

 yet not a pigeon had arrived. Everything was 

 ready, and all eyes were gazing on the clear sky 

 which appeared in glimpses amidst the tall trees. 

 Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of ' Here 

 they come.' The noise which they made, though 

 yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, 

 passing through the rigging of a close reefed vessel. 

 As the birds arrived and passed over me I felt a 

 current of air that surprised me. Thousands were 

 soon knocked down by the pole-men; the birds 

 continued to pour in ; the fires were lighted, and a 

 most magnificent as well as wonderful and almost 

 terrifying sight presented itself. The pigeons 

 arriving by thousands alighted everywhere, one 

 above another, until solid masses as large as hogs- 

 heads were formed on the branches all round. Here 

 and there the perches gave way with a crash, and 

 falling on the ground destroyed hundreds of the birds 

 beneath, forcing down the dense groups with which 

 every stick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar 

 and confusion ; no one dared venture within the 

 line of devastation: the hogs had been penned up 

 in due lime, the picking up of the dead and wounded 

 being left for next morning's employment. The 

 pigeons were constantly coming, and it was past 

 midnight before I perceived a decrease in the 

 number of those that arrived. Towards the ap- 

 proach of day the noise in some measure subsided ; 

 long before objects were distinguishable the pigeons 

 began to move off in a direction quite different 

 from that in which they had arrived the evening 

 before, and at sunrise all that were able to fly had 

 disappeared. The bowlings of the wolves now 

 reached our ears, and the'loxes, lynxes, cougars, 

 bears, racoons, and opossums were seen sneaking 

 off, whilst eagles and hawks of difterent species, ac- 

 companied by a crowd of vuHures, came to supplant 

 fhem, and enjoy their share of the spoil." The 

 breeding places of these pigeons are even more 

 extensive than their temporary roosting places; 



fifty miles in length of forest by four or five in 

 breadth being colonised by them, and every tree 

 crowded with nests, varying from fifty to a hundred 

 in number. The breeding time, according to 

 Audubon, is not much influenced by season, but 

 the territory selected is where food is most plentiful 

 and most easily attainable, and where water is at 

 a convenient distance. The nests are composed 

 of a few dry twigs supported on the forks of the 

 branches. The eggs are two in number, and, as 

 is the case with our common domestic pigeon, the 

 brood consists in general of a male and female. 

 When the young are fully grown, but have not yet 

 lelt the nests, a scene similar to that described 

 as occurring in their roosting place commences. 

 Parties from the surrounding country throng to the 

 onslaught. Trees are cut down, and thousands of 

 the young or " squabs " are taken. While the axe- 

 men are at work, the forest presents " a perpetual 

 tumult of crowding and fluttering pigeons, their 

 j wings roaring like thunder, mingled with the fre- 

 quent crash of falling timber." By the Indians, as 

 Wilson says, a pigeon-roost or breeding place is 

 considered an important source of national profit, 

 and dependence for the season ; and all their active 

 ingenuity is exercised on the occasion. 



We have seen several pairs of the migratory 

 pigeon in captivity ; it breeds freely in a suitable 

 aviary, and is as contented and tame as our ordinary 

 domestic race. 



The migratory pigeon has the head small ; the 

 neck slender; the legs short; and the tail, which is 

 composed of twelve feathers, graduated and taper- 

 ing. Bill black ; iris bright red ; feet carmine 

 purple ; claws blackish ; head above and on the 

 sides light blue ; throat, fore-neck, breast, and 

 sides brownish red ; lower part and sides of the 

 neck reflecting metallic tints of gold, emerald, 

 green, and rich crimson ; the general colour of the 

 upper parts is greyish blue ; some of the wing- 

 coverts marked with a black spot ; quills and larger 

 wing-coverts blackish ; the primary quills bluish on 

 the outer web ; the larger coverts whitish at the 

 tip ; the two middle feathers of the tail black, the 

 rest pale blue becoming white towards the end ; 

 under parts white. Length sixteen inches and a 

 half. The female is somewhat smaller than the 

 male, and the colours of the plumage are duller, 

 though their distribution is the same. Length 

 fifteen inches. 



1707. — The Manasops Pigeon 

 (Ptilinopus ci/ano-virens). Lesson found this elegant 

 pigeon in the deep forests of New Guinea, and in 

 the neighbourhood of the harbour of Dorery pro- 

 cured numerous individuals. Their low cooing, he 

 says, was frequently heard from the large trees, and 

 everything proved that they were common. In 

 the Papuan tongue the bird is termed Manasope. 

 Lesson's description is as follows : — Total length, 

 from the end of the bill to the extremity of the tail, 

 eight inches six lines (French); bill delicate and 

 black ; iris of a red brown ; tarsi short, and almost 

 entirely feathered ; toes with a membranous border, 

 and of a lively orange colour ; head, rump, upper 

 part of the body, wings, and tail, of an agreeable 

 grass green ; a large hood of a beautiful indigo-blue 

 covers the occiput ; elongated blue spots occupy 

 the centre of the subular feathers, which are bordered 

 with a straight yellow line ; the internal and hidden 

 part of the same feathei-s is brown ; the quills are 

 entirely brown, and bordered at the external edge 

 with a line of canary-yellow ; the tail is square and 

 rectilinear ; the feathers which compose it are four- 

 teen in number, brown, their extremities white 

 below, and of a green similar to that of the back 

 above, passing into black in the middle, and each 

 terminating within with a white spot ; the two ex- 

 terior ones are brown, bordered with yellow exter- 

 nally, as are the two or three next : the shaft is 

 brown ; the throat to half-way down the neck is 

 ash grey; the breast is greyish green: the belly 

 and the flanks are at first green mingled with some 

 yellow borderings, and then comes a large patch of 

 yellowish white extending on each side so as to 

 form a kind of girdle ; the feathers of the thighs are 

 green ; those of the vent, white and pale yellow ; 

 the lower tail-coverts are yellow mingled with 

 green. 



1708. — The Aromatic Vinago 

 (Vtnoffo aromatica). This example of the arboreal 

 pigeons of intertropical Asia and Africa is a native 

 of the continent of India, Java, and the adjacent 

 islands. It is said to climb the trees with great 

 address, and to frequent the banyan, on the small 

 red fig of which it feeds ; whilst its colour so blends 

 with that of the foliage that it is diflicult, even 

 when a flock is among the branches, to distinguish 

 the birds, unless they flutter about. In the breeding 

 season the pairs retire into the recesses of the forest, 

 and re-assemble into flocks after the young are 

 reared. The nest is a slight platform of sticks and 

 twigs; the eggs, as usual,. two. 



The bird is thus described :— The base or softer 

 part of the bill is a blackish grey ; the tip yellowish 

 white, strong, much hooked, and bulging on the 

 side ; the forehead is of a bright siskin green ; the 

 crown greenish grey ; the chin and throat gamboge- 

 vellovv ; the remainder of the neck, the breast, belly, 

 lower back, and rump, yellowish green ; the upper 

 backer mantle, and a part of the lesser wing-coverts 

 are of a rich brownish red, and exhibit a purplish 

 tinge in certain lights ; the greater wing-coverts and 

 secondary quills are greenish black, with a deep 

 and well defined edging of gamboge-yellow through- 

 out their length ; the tail has the two middle feathers 

 wholly green, and slightly exceeding the rest in 

 length ; these are of a dark bluish grey, with a dark 

 central band; the under tail-coverts are yellowish 

 white, barred with green ; the legs and toes are red, 

 the claws pale grey, strong, sharp, and semicircular. 

 (Selby.) 



1709.— The Phasianella 



(Columba Carpophaga Phasianella). This beau- 

 tiful species is lound in Australia, the Philippine 

 and Molucca Islands, and Java, &c., where it in- 

 habits the woods, feeding on pimento and various 

 other aromatic berries. Its flesh is dark-coloured, 

 but of excellent flavour. The total length of this 

 species is about sixteen inches. The wings are 

 short; the tail long and graduated. The upper 

 plumage is deep reddish brown with bronze re- 

 flexions. The head, sides, and front of the neck, 

 and whole of the under plumage, are orange brown. 

 The hinder part of the neck changeable violet, 

 purple, and brilliant gold. Legs reddish brown. 



1710.— The Oceanic Fruit-Pigeon 



{Carpophaga oceanica). The small island of Oualan 

 in the midst of the Caroline Archipelago, the Pelew 

 Islands, and possibly some of the Philippines, are 

 the native localities of this species, which is closely 

 allied to the Nutmeg Pigeon of New Guinea. It is 

 described by Lesson as follows : — Total length four- 

 teen inches (French), including the tail, which 

 measures five ; the bill, an inch long, is black, 

 strong, and surmounted at its base by a rounded 

 and veiy black caruncle ; the feet are very strong 

 and of a bright orange colour ; the tarsi are feathered 

 nearly down to the toes, which have a well-de- 

 veloped border ; the wings are pointed, and only 

 one inch shorter than the tail, which is almost rec- 

 tilinear. The feathers of the forehead, cheeks, and 

 throat are whitish mixed with grey ; the head and 

 the back of the neck are of a deep slaty grey ; 

 the back, rump, wing-coverts, quills, and tail- 

 feathers, are of a uniform metallic green, passing 

 into brown on the interior of the great feathers ; the 

 breast and upper part of the belly are grey, with a 

 tint of rust colour ; the lower part of the belly, the 

 vent, the thighs, and the lower tail-coverts, are a 

 deep ferruginous red ; the tail-feathers on the under 

 side are a bright reddish green (vert rougeStre clair). 

 (Lesson.) 



Mr. Selby, in reference to the pigeons of the pre- 

 sent group, Carpophaga, observes that "their bill is 

 considerably depressed at the base, the membrane 

 in which the nostrils are placed but little prominent 

 or swollen, the tip compressed and moderately 

 arched, the tomia slightly sinuated. The forehead 

 is low, and the feathers advance considerably upon 

 the soft portion of the bill. In many of them a 

 caruncle, or gristly knob, varying in size and shape 

 according to the species, grows upon the basal part 

 of the upper mandible during the breeding season. 

 This is supposed to be common to both sexes, as the 

 female is described with it in Duperrey's ' Voyage.' 

 After this epoch it is rapidly absorbed, and its situ- 

 ation scarcely to be observed upon the surface of 

 the bill. The feet are powerful, and formed for 

 grasping, the soles being flat and greatly extended. 

 As in the other members of this group, the hind-toe 

 is fully developed and long, and the exterior longer 

 than the inner toe. They inhabit the forests of 

 India, the Moluccas, Celebes, Australia, and the 

 Pacific Isles. Their food consists of fruits and ber- 

 ries. That of the precious nutmeg, or rather its soft 

 covering, known to us by the name of mace, at cer- 

 tain seasons aftbrds a favourite repast to some 

 species, and upon this luxurious diet they become 

 so loaded with fat as frequently, when shot, to burst 

 asunder when they fall to the ground. And here 

 we may reflect on the remarkable provision Nature 

 has made for the propagation as well as the dis- 

 semination of this valuable spice, for the nutmeg 

 itself, which is generally swallowed with the whole 

 of its pulpy covering, passes uninjured through the 

 digestive organs of the bird, and is thus dispersed 

 throughout the group of the Moluccas and other 

 islands of the East. Indeed, from repeated experi- 

 ments, it appears that an artificial preparation, ana- 

 logous to that which it undergoes in its passage 

 through the bird, is necessary to ensure the growth 

 and fertility of the nut; and it was not till after 

 many unsuccessful at'empts had been made that 



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