112 
and with the basal half furnished with a soft, slightly swollen membrane in 
which nostrils open (Figure 35, p. 24). The legs and feet are weak, fitted 
only for walking on small level areas or for simple perching. Our common 
domestic Pigeons, descended from the Rock Dove of Europe, show all the 
most distinctive characters of the family. There are no recognizable or 
taxonomic differences between the so-called Pigeons and Doves. 
315. Passenger Pigeon. WILD PIGEON. FR.—LE PIGEON VOYAGEUR. Hctopistes mi- 
gratorius. L, 16-29. Plate XIA. 
Distinctions. The Mourning Dove is so often taken for this species that the two 
should be diagnosed with care. The Pigeon is a considerably larger bird; the breast is 
distinctly ruddy and the head and upper parts are slate-blue in the male. The female 
is without the strong blue on the back, but the head retains a bluish shade that is never 
present in the Mourning Dove, which is more evenly fawn coloured and has a small black 
spot on the side of the neck just below the ear. 
Field Marks. As this species is now extinct, field marks are unnecessary. 
Nesting. The Passenger Pigeon built a rough nest of sticks in trees, in large com- 
munities. 
Distribution. Bred in the wooded sections of most of Canada east of the mountains 
and south to the middle states, wintered in the southern states and beyond. 
The immense flocks of Passenger Pigeons that once darkened the air 
were one of the wonders of America. The descriptions of their number, if 
they were not circumstantial and well vouched for by men of undoubted 
veracity, would sound like wild stretches of the imagination: flocks, so 
dense that haphazard shots into them would bring down numbers, travelled 
rapidly with a front miles in width and so long that it took hours to pass a 
given point. Audubon estimates one such flock as containing over a 
billion birds, basing his figures upon the density and area of the congre- 
gation and not by mere guess. They bred in dense rookeries where their 
weight often broke the branches from forest trees. Trees containing 
their nests were cut down and though each nest contained only one squab 
there were so many that the pigs were turned in to feed upon them. Later, 
the netting of pigeons was the occupation of professional fowlers who 
shipped their proceeds by the car load to the centres of population. Of 
course, not even the immense numbers of the Passenger Pigeons could 
stand such attacks without diminution and gradually they decreased. To 
suggest a halt in the proceedings at that time, however, aroused nothing 
but amusement. Their numbers were held to be inexhaustible, but to-day 
the species is extinct and the last one, a captive bird, died in Cincinnati a 
short time ago. The last great rookery was near Petoskey, Mich. In the 
autumn of 1878 the birds left, but failed to return in any commercial 
number the following spring. For a few years afterwards occasional small 
flocks were seen and isolated rookeries were reported, but as the fowiers 
investigated each case it became apparent that the netting of pigeons as an 
occupation was a thing of the past. Thereafter, the birds became fewer 
and fewer each year until records of them disappeared altogether. There 
are occasional rumors even yet of flocks occurring in out of the way 
places, in the western mountains in Mexico or South America and else- 
where, but in each case, investigation has proved that the reports are based 
on other species or on misinformation. For several years a large reward 
was offered for news of a single nesting pair. Of course, the person who 
offered the reward was flooded with reports but not a single case stood 
examination, the reward was never earned, and was finally withdrawn. In 
the east, the Mourning Dove was the usual basis of report, in the west the 
