98 Bird-Life in J^ 



this plumage appears at any other time than in the Fall of the 

 year; in this dress the birds are rare here, and apparently pass 

 its stages in some wild place, or region where they are not easily 

 detected. The hunters about the coast told me that these 

 spotted birds were very rare. In the early Fall the pigeon is 

 quite tame, but grows wilder as the cold weather advances. 

 AVhen pursuing them with a boat they are at times easy to ap- 

 proach, while others most difficult, and they are often very 

 wild without any apparent reason. The pigeon will usually 

 dive " at the flash " ; but often, especially when feeding, it 

 allows you to approach quite near to it. In feeding the bird 

 bends its neck forward and dips its beak into the water ; at 

 this time, when the head is turned forward and a little away 

 from the hunter the latter is generally sure of securing his 

 game. Sometimes the pigeon takes wing nearly as soon as it 

 perceives a boat approaching, and it is then impossible to get 

 within shooting distance of it ; its flight is at such times rapid 

 but easy, generally low and in a straight line. AVhen tame 

 they usually escape by diving rather than by flight and by 

 swimming long distances under the water ; they do this easily 

 and In any direction they may choose. When wounded they 

 often dive, as do many of the duck family, swim or sink to 

 the bottom, and, clinging to the seaweed, die there. I have 

 oiten watched them dive at such times and never return. 

 On still, warm days they stay near the land feeding, often in 

 large numbers. In large flocks specimens showing a greater 

 or less degree of albinism may be frequently taken or seen. 

 When flying low over the water a long distance away, if fired 

 at and not hit, I have seen them drop suddenly to the water 

 and dive, thus escaping the hunter who does not know, at so 

 great? a distance, in what direction to watch for their reappear- 

 ing.- The flesh, especially of the young bird, is excellent eat- 

 ing, and for this reason they are shot in great numbers; they 

 are regarded as the hardest bird to kill, next to the loons, that 

 dwell here. The pigeon breeds in large numbers on several 

 of the small islands'along'the coast. On one island a colony of 



