PASSENGER PIGEON. 185 



of the pigeons were observed was on an extensive plain in Pierce 

 County, Washington, fifteen miles east of Puget Sound, between the 

 Sound and the Cascade Mountains. This fertile plain was dotted 

 over with clumps of pine and fir trees, in many instances bent down 

 by flocks of Wild Pigeons, that feasted on the strawberries which, in 

 some places, were so abundant as to give the sward a scarlet tinge. 

 These flocks numbered several hundreds in each, and during the 

 short time spent there (a few days) plainly showed they were but 

 ' transitory visitants ' passing northward, and unlikely to breed in 

 that vicinity." 



In Ontario we still see and hear of single birds or pairs observed 

 in the woods. In the report of the Ornithological Sub-section of the 

 Canadian Institute for 1890-91, are two records of specimens being 

 observed near Toronto, one of which, a young female, was secured. 



In Dr. Bergtold's " Birds of Buffalo and Vicinity," the author says 

 that the Wild Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorias) is tolerably common, 

 and breeds there. 



I have similar reports from many points in Ontario, where I have 

 made inquiry, but on the whole this part of the subject is left much 

 as it has been so long as I can remember. The migratory flocks are 

 now seen no more, and if these vast roosts exist anywhere, it must 

 be beyond the reach of railroads, or assuredly the birds would be 

 slaughtered, as already described, and carried to market. If, on the 

 other hand, they have been greatly reduced in number, the proba- 

 bility is that they will abandon their gregarious habit, as many pairs 

 have already done, and breed throughout the country generally, each 

 piir selecting a nesting place to suit its own ideas, as most other 

 birds do. 



Since writing the above, I have received a letter from Vernon 

 Bailey, of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, elated October 

 14th, 1893, in which the following passage occurs: "I stopped at 

 Elk River, Minn., and while there asked my brothers and several 

 others about Wild Pigeons. My brother had seen two or three flocks 

 of about four to six birds during the past summer, and had killed 

 two pigeons, but had seen no nests, neither had he heard of any of 

 the birds breeding there." 



