290 BREWSTER 0x the Present Status of the Wild Pigeon. {October 
that he had frequently found two eggs or two young in the same 
nest, but that fully half the nests which he had examined con- 
tained only one. 
Our personal experience with the Pigeon in Michigan was as 
follows: 
During our stay at Cadillac we saw them daily, sometimes 
singly, usually in pairs, never more than two together. Nearly 
every large tract of old growth mixed woods seemed to contain at 
least one pair. They appeared to be settled for the season, and 
we were convinced that they were preparing to breed. In fact, 
the oviduct of a female killed May ro contained an egg nearly 
ready for the shell. 
At Oden we had a similar experience, although there were 
perhaps fewer Pigeons there than about Cadillac. On May 24 
Mr. Dwight settled any possible question as to their breeding in 
scattered pairs by finding a nest on which he distinctly saw a bird 
sitting. The following day I accompanied him to this nest which ~ 
was at least fifty feet above the ground, on the horizontal branch 
of a large hemlock, about twenty feet out from the trunk. As we 
approached the spot an adult male Pigeon started from a tree near 
that on which the nest was placed and a moment later a young 
bird, with stub tail and barely able to fly, fluttered feebly after it. 
This young Pigeon was probably the bird seen the previous day 
on the nest, for, on climbing to the latter, Mr. Dwight found it 
empty, but fouled with excrement, some of which was perfectly 
fresh. A thorough investigation of the surrounding woods, which 
were a hundred acres or more in extent, and composed chiefly of 
beeches with a mixture of white pines and hemlocks of the 
largest size, convinced us that no other Pigeons were nesting in 
them. 
All the netters with whom we talked believe firmly that there 
are just as many Pigeons in the West as there ever were. They 
say the birds have been driven from Michigan and the adjoining 
States partly by persecution, and partly by the destruction of the 
forests, and have retreated to uninhabited regions, perhaps north 
of the Great Lakes in British North America. Doubtless there is 
some truth in this theory ; for, that the Pigeon is not, as has been 
asserted so often recently, on the verge of extinction, is shown by 
the flight which passed through Michigan in the spring of 1888. 
This flight, according to the testimony of many reliable observers, 
