308 COLUMBIA. 



Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius (Swains,) in the 

 Society's menagerie. A pair of these birds began to build 

 their nest on the 25th of April, 1832, having been three or 

 four days in selecting a proper place in a fir-tree in the 

 inclosure appropriated at the Gardens to the Pigeons. The 

 female was the nest-builder. The male bird performed the 

 most laborious part of the work : he collected and con- 

 veyed to the spot all the materials, principally sticks and 

 straw, of which the nest was composed. He alighted on 

 the back of the female with each fresh supply, so as not to 

 disarrange any part of the nest which she had formed. 

 They began their task in the morning, and completed it 

 the same evening. One egg was laid on the morning of 

 the 26th, and the female commenced sitting immediately. 

 A young bird was hatched in sixteen days. The male re- 

 lieved the female during the period of incubation. 



Another instance of the breeding in this country of the 

 Passenger Pigeon, occurred nearly at the same time in the 

 menagerie of the President of the Zoological Society, the 

 Earl of Derby, at his seat, Knowsley, in Lancashire. 



The beak is orange ; the irides pale yellow ; the head, 

 cheeks, back of the neck, wing-coverts, back, and upper 

 tail-coverts bluish grey ; sides of the neck reddish chestnut, 

 beautifully iridescent, reflecting green by transmitted light 

 and purple by reflected light ; lower part of the neck 

 behind, the scapulars and tertials, brownish grey; wing- 

 coverts with a few oblong spots of black ; primaries lead 

 grey, with lighter-coloured outer margins, the shafts black ; 

 the tail long, cuneiform ; the four middle tail-feathers the 

 longest, lanceolate and pointed ; the outer four on each 

 side graduated ; the middle pair blackish brown ; the next 

 long feather on each outside white, tinged with pearl grey 

 over a portion of the outer web, and lead grey at the base; 



