962 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 835 



of Sierra Gila, seventy-five miles southeast of 

 Yuma and near the Mexican boundary, and 

 there had opportunities for observing what 

 appeared to be the same bird — which was soon 

 identified with the passenger pigeon as known 

 in Iowa a quarter-century before. It was 

 similar in size, the males 16 or 17 inches in 

 length from beak to tail-tip and 24 or 25 

 inches in wing spread, the females somewhat 

 smaller ; it was essentially similar in color and 

 appearance of plumage (possibly a shade more 

 pallid), slaty bluish gray with rufous breast 

 and a sort of iridescent sheen on the sides of 

 the neck, with soft and down-like white feath- 

 ering about the ventral region and thighs, and 

 white showing in the tail feathers as the bird 

 started up or alighted, the females less rufous 

 and sheeny than the males. The size, form 

 and color of the beak were similar, the upper 

 mandible projecting slightly at tip and sides, 

 with small rugosities about the nostrils, and 

 a narrow, reddish, fleshy line marking off the 

 base of the upper mandible from the fine and 

 smooth feathering of the head, while the head 

 was similar in form and size and in the pe- 

 culiar backward, courtesy-like movement ap- 

 parently attending a change in focus in the 

 bird's vision. The legs and feet were the 

 same in size, form and reddish color, the small 

 and rather brilliant carmine scales separated 

 by narrow whitish lines, the lower surfaces 

 purplish and the claws nearly black. The 

 tail — perhaps the most striking feature — was 

 similar, its length half that of the entire bird, 

 with two large black feathers much longer 

 than the rest forming the center, and the lat- 

 eral feathers shortening rapidly so that when 

 spread in flight its outline was that of a dia- 

 mond or rhomb with one of the acuter angles 

 merging into the body of the bird; alight but 

 alert, the tail pressed upward against the 

 projecting wing tips so that the three united 

 in a slender tapering point, though at com- 

 plete rest and in balancing on a perch the tail 

 dropped downward, separating from the wing 

 tips. The form and general appearance were 

 the same, the neck long, sinuous and ex- 

 tensible, the body elongated and slender, giv- 

 ing the appearance of smooth stream-lines as 



of a swift water craft, the exposed surface of 

 the larger feathers smooth and glossy. The 

 plucked skin was similar, dark purplish, espe- 

 cially over the breast, and grading through 

 pink to nearly white over the back; and the 

 flesh was similarly dark, and of the same 

 flavor when cooked. The movement in flight 

 was similar, the birds starting up with sharp 

 clapping of the wing tips as they met below 

 the body, commonly flying in easy swiftness 

 with nearly continuous wing beating accom- 

 panied by endless tail movements, including 

 contraction and expansion of the feathers 

 from a narrow line to a width of fully sis 

 inches; and on approaching a perch the wing 

 tips again clapping, though more softly than 

 on arising. An unusual form or trick of 

 flight noted in Iowa was that in which the 

 bird descended from a lofty perch as on a 

 high tree-top by a sort of dive without much 

 wing movement; launching itself obliquely 

 downward, with tail half spread and wings 

 opened but strongly flexed, so that its outline 

 was that of a trident moving stem forward, it 

 vol-planed through the air so swiftly as to 

 produce a low, rushing or whistling sound, 

 veering laterally by tilting the body sidewise, 

 in an up-curving trajectory carrying its move- 

 ment above the horizontal with diminishing 

 velocity as it approached low perch or ground, 

 on which it came to rest after gentle flapping. 

 At Tina j as Altas in May the pigeons (then 

 nesting) commonly watered at one of the 

 lower water pockets a hundred yards west of 

 and a hundred feet higher than the camp, re- 

 turning thence to the clump of trees contain- 

 ing the nests at the mouth of the canyon two 

 hundred yards eastward and seventy-five feet 

 lower; they generally arose from the water 

 pocket so as to pass high above the camp, and 

 then set themselves to a vol-plane flight back 

 to the nest-trees, holding the flexed wings 

 firmly fixed and guiding the course with bend- 

 ings of tail and head and lateral rocking mo- 

 tions of body and wings — the fashion of 

 flight being precisely that noted among the 

 passenger pigeons of Iowa and never seen in 

 any other bird. There was also a high water 

 pocket 400 yards west of camp and 400 feet 



