ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS. 



Passenger Pigeon. 



Reverting, here from first and in- 

 creasing records it will be quite in 

 order to deal with disappearing spe- 

 cies among rare bird notes. Irr the. 

 seventies and eighties when the effect 

 of increasing settlement and clear- 

 ance of feeding and breeding resorts 

 of the wild pigeon first begun to make 

 itself felt upon the species, the pion- 

 eers and press of the west noted an 

 increased movement of the - birds west- 

 ward. This movement, however, only 

 lasted a few years and gradually the 

 species, unable to find suitable en- 

 vironment, decreased in numbers until 

 it first became uncommon, then rare 

 and seems now to have dissappeared 

 from among us altogether. When I 

 first began scientific work in Portage 

 la Prairie in 1897, I was promised 

 dozens of pigeons, but every induce- 

 ment offered failed to produce any- 

 thing but mourning doves, and the 

 only specimen I received or have 

 heard of being taken in Manitoba 

 since that time is one which was col- 

 lected at Winnipegosis, Man., on April 

 10, 1898, and sent to me to be mount- 

 ed. It was a magnificent male bird in 

 the pink of condition every way. No 

 other specimen was noticed with it 

 and no authentic records have been 

 made since then, while Winnipeg 

 taxidermists informed me that they 

 had not received one for about five 

 years previously. Many aspirants 

 to the honor of recording a pigeon 

 have arisen, but investigation has 

 fallen, even some of the old school 

 who knew the birds so well in their 

 youth and have in their eagerness mis- 

 taken mourning doves for pigeons. I 

 have gone on many a tour to locate 

 a pigeon seen by an old timer and 

 have in my own inability delegated an 

 assistant, but we have invariably 

 returned with Zenaidura Macroura, 

 and the pigeon was not. The beau- 

 tiful and well-preserved specimen 

 which I have been able to secure for 

 illustration herewith is loaned me by 

 Mr. Dan Smith of this city, who shot 

 it in St. Boniface, south-east of the 

 cathedral in the fall of 1893, 

 and, so far as I can discover, 

 is the last authentic record In 

 the vicinity of Winnipeg. Contrary 

 to the opinions ^of many this bird 

 has not been the victim of the gun but 

 rather of changing conditions to 

 which it was unable to adapt itself. 

 Its kindred species, which it has been 

 so often confused with, on the con- 

 trary being adapted to civilization 

 and settlement is everywhere increas- 

 ing with us. 



ACANTHUS LINARIA ROSTRATA. 

 Greater Redpoll. 



There is little doubt in my mind but 

 what within our provincial boundaries 

 we would with systematic research be 

 able to collect not only the greater red- 

 poll but also Holboebls, Mealy and 

 Greenland, but as these birds consti- 

 tute with their intermediates and the 

 two recorded species the common and 

 hoary redpolls an intricate problem 

 which , very . extensive collection 

 and research alone will solve satis- 

 factorily. 



I am forced, however, to state that 

 two specimens in my collection are un- 

 doubtedly of the large varieties ros- 

 trata and hornemanii. The speci- 

 men which 1 conclude is rostrata, or 

 greater redpoll, is one which was 

 collected in the winter of 1899-1900 at 



Spiza Americana Dickeissel— Black-Throiated 

 Bunting. 



Portage la Prairie, among a very large 

 flock of redpolls which were captured 

 alive and kept in my aviary and while 

 thus kept showed conclusively by its 

 every action that it was a decided 

 species. The specimen measures, 

 length, 5 3-4; wing, 3 1-4; height, 2 

 1-4. This specimen died June 20, 1900, 

 in aviary. The other which I believe 

 to be hornemanii or the Greenland 

 redpoll was picked up dead by myself 

 near my aviary in the early spring of 

 1900, April 3. It is a female, length 

 6 1-4; wing, 3 1-4; tail, 2 1-2. This 

 is as far as I will venture on redpolls 

 until my collection is examined at 

 Washington and reported on. 



SPIZA AMERICANA-DICKCISSEL. 



Black Throated Bunting. 



Probably one of the most unusual 

 ornithological records for Manitoba is 

 the dickeissel. On June 14, 1897, while 

 doing some miscellaneous collecting 

 near the big slough at Portage la 

 Prairie, a strange bird flushed out of 

 the grass and alighted on a fencepost. 

 I immediately secured it and was very 



