THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 153 



Adult female. Brownish mottled and varied with dusky ; lower parts, plain ; 

 tail, barred. 



Young males in first autumn. Similar to female. 



Eggs, buff or greenish-buff, eight to fourteen, 1.50 x 1.30. 



These birds were introduced in nearly all the counties of the State 

 in 1897, 1 and again at Princeton in 1900, 2 and probably elsewhere, 

 but they do not seem to have established themselves. Perhaps this is 

 just as well, as it is claimed that the blackhead disease so fatal to 

 Turkeys is spread by the Pheasants through the fields and woodlands 

 where Turkeys feed, so that raising the latter in a country stocked with 

 Pheasants is impossible, and in the same way the native Ruffed 

 Grouse is said to disappear when Pheasants are established. 



Order COLUMB-ffi. 



Family COLUMBID-ffi. 



THE PIGEONS. 



These birds form a very well marked group typified by the domestic 

 Pigeon. 



We have now but one wild species in the State, the Mourning Dove, 

 though formerly the Passenger Pigeon occurred, and once the Ground 

 Dove strayed within our boundaries. 



Two of the characteristic peculiarities of Pigeons are the soft, more 

 or less swollen, cere at the base of the bill and the habit of drinking 

 without raising the head or removing the bill from the water. 



a. Wing under 4. GROUND DOVE, p. 155 

 aa. Wing over 5. 



6. Rump plumbeous. PASSENGER PIGEON, p. 154 



66. Rump grayish-brown. MOURNING DOVE, p. 155 



1 Rept. N. J. Fish and Game Com., 1898 ; also, Oologist, 1898, p. 81. 



2 Babson, Birds of Princeton, p. 25. 



