ORDER COLUMB^. 



PIGEONS. 



Family COLUMBID^:. Pigeons. 



The Pigeons are a very large family, numbering about 300 species, 

 distributed in different parts of the world, about a dozen of which 

 are found in North America. Their habits vary with different species, 

 but they are all decidedly monogamous. In feeding the nestlings the 

 macerated food is mixed with a milky fluid secreted in the gullet and 

 is given to the young birds by regurgitation. When first hatched the 

 young are naked. At one time flocks numbering tens of thousands 

 of Wild Pigeons passed through Illinois, but they have now disap- 

 peared and the species is on the verge of extinction. 



Genus EC rOPISTES Swains. 



147. Ectopistes migratorius (Linn.). 

 Passenger Pigeon. Wild Pigeon. 



Distr. : Eastern North America, north to Hudson Bay, west to 

 the plains; breeds in Canada and northern border of United States; 

 now very rare or extinct in localities where it was once very abundant. 



Adult male: Upper plumage, including head, slaty blue; rump, 

 bluish slate color; back and wings tinged with grayish olive; wing 



Passenger Pigeon. 

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