Pigeons 413 



as they are caught they shed Tears without Crying and refuse all manner of 

 Sustenance till they die. 



"When these Birds build their Nests, they choose a clear Place, gather to- 

 gether some Palm-Leaves for that purpose and heap them up a foot and a half 

 high from the Ground, on which they sit. They never lay but one Egg, which 

 is much bigger than that of a Goose. The Male and Female both cover it in 

 their turns, and the young which is not able to provide for itself in several Months, 

 is not hatched till a seven Week's end. All the while they are sitting upon it 

 they will not suffer any other Bird of their Species to come within two hundred 

 Yards round of the Place; But what is very singular, is, the Males will never 

 drive away the Females, only when he perceives one he makes a noise with his 

 Wings to call the Female, and she drives the unwelcome Stranger away, not 

 leaving it till 'tis without her Bounds. The Female does the same as to the 

 Males, and he drives them away. We have observed this several Times, and I 

 affirm it to be true. 



" The Combats between them on this occasion last sometimes pretty long, 

 because the Stranger only turns about, and do's not fly directly from the Nest. 

 However the others do not forsake it till they have quite driven it out of their 

 Limits. After these Birds have raised their young One, and left it to itself, they 

 are always together, which the other Birds are not, and tho' they happen to 

 mingle with other Birds of the same Species, these two Companions never dis- 

 unite. We have often remarked that some Days after the young one leaves the 

 Nest, a Company of thirty or fourty brings another young one to it, and the new 

 fledg'd Bird, with its Father and Mother joining with the Band, march to some 

 Bye Place. We frequently followed them, and found that afterwards the old 

 ones went each their own way alone, or in Couples, and left the two young ones 

 together, which is called a Marriage" 



The date of the final disappearance of the Solitaire is not known, though it 

 appears to have been living as late as 1729 but in greatly reduced numbers. So 

 early as 1789 its bones were discovered in certain limestone caves and since that 

 date, but principally about 1865, large additional deposits were found consisting 

 altogether of several thousand bones, including a number of complete skeletons; 

 with the result of confirming, so far as the anatomical structure goes, all of 

 Leguat's statements, and making it probable that his account was in the main 

 correct. 



THE TRUE PIGEONS 



(Family Columbida) 



The Tree Pigeons. The members of the first subfamily from their arboreal 

 habits may be collectively known as the Tree Pigeons, although the various 

 minor groups are known respectively as Green, Painted, Wart, and Fruit 

 Pigeons. They number about two hundred and twenty-five species disposed 

 among some thirty-seven genera and three groups (formerly called subfamilies), 



