THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 79 
J 
and participating in the care of the young, which, among the true Pigeons, 
are hatched blind, fed in the nest, which they do not quit until they are coy- 
ered with feathers, and are supported by their parents some time after their 
departure from it, having no power to feed themselves. Such are the points 
of resemblance. Their dissimilarity consists in their mode of drinking, and 
feeding their young, in the nature of their plumage, and the singularity of 
their courtship, and of their voice — points of difference which also separate 
them from the true gallinaceous birds, “with which,” says M. Vieillot, “ they 
have no analogy in their instincts, their habits, or their loves. Nearly all 
the gallinaceous birds are polygamous, and lay a great number of eges each 
time they incubate, which is rarely more than once a year in the temperate 
es each time, incubate fre- 
zones; while the true Pigeons lay only two eg¢ 
quently during the year, and are monogamous. Among the gallinaceous 
birds, as a general rule, the male does not solace the female at the time of 
building the nest and of incubation: the young run as soon almost as they 
are out of the egg-shell, quitting their nest, and seeking their own food 
immediately.” 
The Pigeons occupy a peculiar position, and no birds are so nearly allied 
that their points of separation are not plainly manifest. 
One peculiarity of their internal organization is worthy a special notice. 
The crop, in the state which is adapted for ordinary digestion, is thin and 
membranous, and the internal surface is smooth ; but, by the time the young 
are about to be hatched, the whole, except the part which lies on the trachea, 
becomes thicker, and puts on a glandular appearance, having its internal 
surface very irregular. It is in this organ that the food is elaborated by the 
parents before it is conveyed to the young; fora milky fluid of a eravish 
color is secreted and poured into the crop among the grain or seeds under- 
going digestion, and a quality of food suited to the nestling is thus produced. 
The fluid coagulates with acids, and forms curd, and the apparatus forms 
among birds the nearest approach to the mamme of quadrupeds. The dis- 
tribution of this family is very extensive, the form occurring almost every- 
where, except within the frigid zones. Among their numbers are found 
some of the most gorgeously-attired birds, and some have, such as the Tur- 
tle Dove, the Carrier Dove, the Passenger Pigeon, a history as familiar as 
that of the most common species. Of these birds, the Wild Pigeon, or 
Passenger Pigeon of America, is one of the most interesting. This singular 
bird inhabits a wide and extensive region of North America, though it does 
not seem to be known westward of the Great Rocky Mountains, but spreads 
all over Canada, and ranges as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. ’ 
The numbers of these birds which associate in their breeding-places almost 
surpass belief: these breeding-places are always in the woods, and some- 
