57fi 



THE PASSENGEE PIGEON. 



which this bird most favours is the soft covering of the nutmeg, popularly known as 

 ■' mace/' and the flavour which this aromatic food imparts to the flesh is so peculiarly- 

 delicate, that the Oceanic Fruit Pigeon is in great request for the table, and is shot by 

 hundreds. During the nutmeg season, these Pigeons find such an abundance of food that 

 they become inordinately fat, and are sometimes so extremely plump, that when they are- 

 shot, and fall to the ground, they burst asunder. 



Settino- aside tlie gastronomical properties of this bird, it is a most useful creature, 

 being the'means of disseminating fax and wide the remarkable nutmeg-tree. The Pigeon, 



being a bird of large appetite, 

 swallows the nutmeg together 

 with the mace, but only the latter 

 substance is subject to digestion, 

 the nutmeg itself passing through 

 the system with its reproductive 

 powers not only uninjured, but 

 even improved. The sojourn 

 within the body of the bird seems 

 to be almost necessary in order to 

 induce the nutmeg to grow ; and 

 when planted by human hands, 

 it must be chemically treated with 

 some preparation before it will ■ 

 strike root. ^ 



The colour of this species is 

 as follows : The forehead, cheeks, 

 and throat are greyish white, and 

 the rest of the head and the back 

 of the neck are grey with a slaty ■ 

 blue wash. The back and upper " 

 portions of the body are light me- 

 tallic green. The lower part of 

 the throat and the breast are 

 rusty grey, and the thighs and 

 abdomen are deep brownish red. 

 The under surface of the tail is 

 also green, but with a reddish 

 gloss. The total length of the 

 lurd is about fourteen or fifteen 

 inches. 



Among the most extraordinary 

 of birds, the Passenger Pigeon 

 may take very high rank, not on 

 account of its size or beauty, but 

 on account of the extraordinary 

 multitudes in which it sometimes 

 migrates from one place to another. 

 The scenes which take place during 

 these migrations are so strange, so 

 wonderful, and so entirely unlike 

 any events on this side of the 

 Atlantic, that they coidd not be believed but for the trustworthy testimony by which 

 they are corroborated. To abridge or to condense the spirited narrations of Wilson 

 and Audubon would be impossible, without losing, at the same time, the word-painting 

 whicli makes their descriptions so exceedingly valuable ; and accordingly, these well- 

 known naturalists shall speak for themselves. 



OCEANIC FRUIT 'PIG^O'S.—Carpdpha^a oceamca. 



