CHAP, vi.] THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 2J5 



proper number. The usual number for this tribe of 

 birds to lay is held generally to be two, but in some 

 species it is said to be limited to one egg only. My 

 man Thompson asserts that he has never known our 

 Passenger Pigeons to have more than one young one in 

 a nest, and I think he has told me that they only lay a 

 single egg. This is in confinement ; while Audubon 

 positively speaks of two squabs in the same nest. This 

 seems an odd, and I think unusual, effect of domestica- 

 tion." It is a very natural effect of restraint and im- 

 prisonment, of want of sufficient exercise, of incomplete 

 change of diet. Though, if these flighty strangers can 

 make themselves comfortable anywhere in Great Britain, 

 they ought to do so at Knowsley. 



A few words on two more aviary Pigeons, each the 

 representative of a vast continent, and this chapter 

 must be concluded. The first is the famous PASSENGER 

 bird of North America. 



It appears, from the latest accounts, that the enor- 

 mous flocks in which these birds make their irregular 

 change of locality are gradually diminishing in vastness ; 

 and we know, that as men increase wild creatures decrease. 

 The descriptions of Audubon would hereafter be liable 

 to doubt, were they not supported by such strong contem- 

 porary evidence. And it becomes interesting to ascer- 

 tain whether the bird will, in the first place, breed in 

 captivity ; and, secondly, whether it can be prevailed on 

 to assume domestic habits. For, though the flesh 

 may nauseate when thrown into the market by tons 

 weight at a time, it may be acceptable if offered in 

 braces and leashes. The first point has been decided 

 some years ago. Audubon tells us, " My noble friend 

 the Earl of Derby has raised a great number of these 



