COLUMBID/E — THE TMGEONS. 373 



June, altliou^'li tli(i whole iiuiglilxu'lioud was warring u])oii llieiu for many 

 miles iiioiiud, iiiul the Markets ol' J>ust(jn ami other places were largely 

 siiinilied with them. 



In llie extensive forests of Kentucky, Mr. Audubon found tlieni usually 

 collecting and breeding in trees of great height, and always at a convenient 

 distance I'roni water, rt'.sorting tiiither in countless myriads. Tiieir note, (hir- 

 ing breeiling, is descrilied as a siiort cou-cuo, nuich briefer than in the domes- 

 tic I'igeon, wiiile their usual call-note is a rejjetition of tlie monosyllables 

 kcc-kcc-kci' , tiie iir.st note being louder and the last fainter than the rest. In 

 the love-season the male puts on the pompous manners peculiar to all I'igeons, 

 and follows the female with drooping wings and exj)anded tail, the body be- 

 ing held in an elevated attitude and the throat sw(dlen. Occasionally they 

 caress one another in the same maimer in wliicli they feed their young, by 

 introducing the bill of one into that of the other and disgorging the contents 

 of their crops. 



Their nests are composed of a few dry twigs laid crosswise, anil built 

 upon the bram-hes of tn-es. From fifty to a luuulred were seen by Audubon 

 in the same tree, and were said to be fretpiently at 11 considerable height. 

 The few I have seen were in low trees, and not more than ten feet from the 

 ground. The (!ggs are never mon? than two in nund)er, jiure white, and of a 

 broadly elliptical form. During inculiation the male bird feeds the mate and 

 afterwards assists in supidying the young ijirds, and both birds are C(jnspicu- 

 ous in their demonstrations of affection, both to each other and to their off- 

 spring. The young brood, usually both .se.xes in (uie nest, leave their parents 

 as soon as they are able to shift for themselves. 



In the New England States and in the more cultivated part of the country 

 these birds no longer breetl in large communities. The instance near Mont- 

 pelier, in 1849, is the only marked exception that has come within my 

 knowledge. They now breed in isolated pairs, their nests being scattered 

 through the woods and seldom near one another. 



The Wild l''geon has been successfully kept in aviaries, and has occasion- 

 ally bred in confinement. 



Wilson's account of the habits of these I'igeons is substantially corrobora- 

 tive of that of Audubon. He witnessed their migrations in vast numbers, 

 in various parts of the country, — in Western Xisw York, in IVnnsylvania, 

 in various parts of Virginia, where he beliehl their inuneiise flocks witli 

 amazement, but where they were mere straggling parties compared with the 

 congregated millions he saw in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. He also 

 noted their habit of fre(|uenting the same roosting-place night after night, 

 even when they were compelled to Hy sixty or eighty miles each day to their 

 feeding-places. His account of their roosting- places is similar to that of 

 Audubon, corroborating the accumulation of the dung covering the surface 

 of the ground and destroying all the grass and underbrush, the breaking 

 down of large limbs, and even of small trees, by the weiglit of the birds 



