THE COLOGIST. 



141 



owu, — decidedly an interesting bird. 

 Bitterns :ire also fairly common in 

 some localities. Loons make the 

 flights about many inland lakes hideous 

 With their weird shrieks, during their 

 spring migrations greatly to the disgust 

 of early campers. One who has never 

 experienced a night in such localities, 

 can not imagine the horrible noise a 

 dozen Loons can make. It is terrifying 

 to one not acquainted with it. Coots 

 are still numerous and decidedly bold, 

 as they will swim about on the mill- 

 ponds in cities or villages, as will also 

 the beautiful little Dipper Duck. Gal- 

 linules and Rails are not yet extermi- 

 nated, as I met both last year. 



But what has become of the millions 

 of Passenger Pigeons that literally pass- 

 ed over here in clouds twenty years 

 ago, when making their migrations 

 from and to the south? Had any body 

 predicted in those days that in a year 

 or two, those mighty Hocks would cease 

 to journey north and south, he would 

 have been called a fool. Yet these 

 migrations suddenly ceased. What 

 Was the cause? Where have the Pass- 

 enger Pigeons gone? Where do they 

 breed now? Have they become exter- 

 minated? If they still have breeding 

 places, where are they and what route 

 do they take to reach them? Since 

 1874, few Pigeons have been met with 

 here. In 1871 or 187i they began to 

 decrease, but the great migrations 

 ceased suddenly three or four yeai's 

 later. I sometimes find breeding places 

 where three to ten pairs build their 

 nests and rear their young. Unlike 

 the Mourning Dove, so solitary in its 

 habits, the Passenger Pigeon prefers to 

 have the company of its fellows, and 

 single pairs are seldom found nesting 

 here. 



Wild Turkeys, once very numerous 

 here, suddenly disappeared about the 

 same time that the Pigeons did. Once 

 they were met with in nearly every 

 Woods, now they have utterly dis- 



appeared, and I have not heard of one 

 since their sudden disappearance. 

 Where have they gone? Are they ex- 

 tinct in Michigan? [While waiting for 

 a train at Lawton, Van Buren Co. a 

 year ago — an old sportsman, from the 

 country told me he heard one call that 

 morning and that they were not uncom- 

 mon in his neighborhood. — Ed.] Where 

 are they abundant? 



When they were abundant, I often 

 met with hybrids or cross-breeds be- 

 tween the wild and domestic Turkeys, 

 — hybrids, if the Mexican Turkey, the 

 parent of most of our domestic Turkeys 

 is a distinct species; cross-breeds, if it 

 is not. It is my opinion that they are 

 distinct species, for a critical compari- 

 son of the two when pure reveals a 

 great difference in general appearance. 

 Still the Bronze Turkey is evidently a 

 descendant of the northern wild Tur- 

 key or a mixture with it, — if the latter, 

 a possible example of a fertile hybrid, 

 something not entirely unknown. 



A careful research will show that 

 Pigeons and Wild Turkeys disappeared 

 immediately after the timber was re- 

 moved from a large portion of Michi- 

 gan by lumbermen and by the terrible 

 fire of 1871; and without a doubt the 

 removal of the forests caused the dis- 

 appearance of the birds. 



Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeaks, Wood Thrushes and per- 

 haps the White-breasted Nuthatch are 

 on the increase. All these are now 

 found in or near cities,— a decided 

 change in the habits of the two first 

 named. The Indigo Bird also some 

 times enters villages. The Brown 

 Thrasher is less abundant now. New 

 species of birds have also appeared in 

 this state. Conspicous among these 

 is the Black-throated Bunting — a wel- 

 come addition, and the European 

 House Sparrow — a nuisance. 



I have written this hoping that other 

 observers may give us more light. 



WlLFKED A. BHOTHEKTON, 



Rochester, Mich, 



