188 



PHJKONS AND DOVES. 



nock with inotullii! reflections; niuldio of tlie back nnd Hcapuliirs more or less 

 wasiu'd with ()live-l)rown ; TniddJe tail-ffathiTS fuscous, outer ones l)lack at 

 the l)af*e, tlit'ii slaty hluc, failiiii; into a hmad, wiiitc tip; uiuler parts deep, 

 rich viiiaeeous; lowi-r belly white; tlirr)at l)lulsh slatc-colDr. Ad. 9 .—Simi- 

 lar, hut upper parts with less iridescence and more olive-hrown ; l)reast pale 

 j{rayish brown; belly wliitisli. ///*. -(icncrally similar to the 9, but the 

 feathers of the upper parts and breast tipi)ed with whitish, the primaries edged 

 und tipped with rufous. L., 1(;-21»; VV., 7-8'i; T., 7-53; B., 7'10. 



yiV///f/^.— Kastern North America, northward in the interior to Hudson Hay, 

 breedin<x locally throu<,'hout th(! more northern part of its ran;^e. 



Washin>,'ton, rare and irre;,'ular T. X. or W. V. Sin;; Siiij,', formerly rare 

 S. li. and connnon T. V., Apl. !'> to May 17; Au;,'. "21 to Uct. 11; la.st .seen 

 Oct. 11, ISSS. Cambridire, rare and irrejrular T. V. 



A'tKt, a platform of sticks, in u tree. Aj/f/.s one to two, white, 1-45 x M)'J. 



Wilson, writing about 1808, cstimiited that a flock of Wild Pigeons 

 observed by him near Frankfort, Kentucky, contained at least 2,230,- 

 272,000 iniiiviiluals. Captain Hcndire, writing in 1892, says:" ... It 

 looks now as if their total extermination might be accomplished witliin 

 the present century. The only tiling which retards their conij)lete ex- 

 tinction is that it no longer pays to net the.se birds, they being too 

 scarce for this now, at least in the more settled portions of the couii- 

 tr' , and also, perhaps, that fronj constant and unremitting persecution 

 Oh their breeding grounds they have changed their liabits somewhat, 

 the majority no longer breeding in colonics, but scattering over the 

 country and breeding in isolated pairs" (Life Histories of North 

 American Birds, p. Vi'l). 



An article by William Firewster on The Present Status of tlie Wild 

 Pigeon as a Bird of the United States, with some Notes on its Habits 

 (Auk, vi, 1889, pp. 285-291), gives much information concerning the 

 recent history of the bird in Michigan, one of its last strongholds. 

 According to an informant of Mr. Brewster's, the last nesting in Michi- 

 gan of any importance was in 1881. "It was of only moderate size — 

 perhaps eight miles long." The largest known Michigan nesting oc- 

 curred in 187G or 1877. It was twenty-eight miles long and averaged 

 three or four miles in width. 



In the Atlantic States the Wild Pigeon is now so rare a bird that 

 during tlie past sixteen years I have seen only one pair. 



316* Zenaidura macroura (/)i/m.). Moi-kmnq Dovk. Ad. $.— 



Upper parts olive grayish brown; forehead vinaceous ; crown bluish slate- 

 color; sides of the neck with metallic reflections, d xtnall hUtfk mark below the 

 car; middle tail-feathers like the back, the others, seen from above, slaty 

 gray for the basal half, then banded witli black and broadly tipped with ashy 

 and white; brea.st vinaceous; belly cream-butf. Ad. l . — Similar, but with 

 less iridescence ; breast and forehead waslied with grayish brown. Iin. — 



