122 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



PASSENGER PIGEON; WILD PIGEON. 



A. O. U. No. 316 Ectopistes niigratorius. Length 16 in. 



The beautiful Wild Pigeon is becoming one of the birds of the past. We 

 now rarely see any items or stories about the birds for they are so scarce as 

 to have been forgotten by all but ornithologists. The writer's personal ex- 

 periences with these pigeons has been limited to two single birds seen in 

 Worcester about 1885^ and to several barrels of them from the west, seen in 

 the Boston markets about the same time. To one who has never seen any 

 considerable number, the stories that are told by our fathers and grand 

 fathers are almost incredible. It is a fact much to be regretted, but, as far 

 as we know, not a photograph is in existence showing any of the immense 

 flocks or extensive nesting grounds that we are told of. Probably the best 

 account and most reliable one of pigeon nesting is that contained in Ben- 

 dire's work, given by a Mr. Stevens, a veteran pigeon-netter of Michigan. A 

 large part of this account follows : 



"The largest nesting that he (Mr. Stevens) ever visited was in 1876 or 

 1877. It began near Petosky, (Mich.), and extended northeast past Crooked 

 Lake for 28 miles, averaging three or four miles wide. The birds arrived in 

 two separate bodies, one directly from the south by land, the other following 

 the east coast of Wisconsin, and crossing at Manitou Island. He saw the 

 latter body come in from the lake at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was 

 a compact mass of pigeons, at least five miles long by one mile broad. The 

 birds began building when the snow was twelve inches deep in the woods, 

 although the fields were bare at the time. So rapidly did the colony extend 

 its boundaries that it soon passed literally over and around the place where 

 he was netting, although when he began, this point was several miles from 

 the nearest nest. Nesting usually starts in deciduous woods, but during their 

 progress the pigeons do not skip any kinds of trees they encounter. The 

 Petosky nesting extended 8 miles through hardwood timber, then crossed a 

 river bottom wooded with arbor-vitae, and thence stretched through white 

 pine woods about twenty miles. For the entire distance of 28 miles every 

 tree of any size had more or less nests in it and many trees were filled with 

 them. 



"Pigeons are very noisy when building. They make a sound resembling 

 the croaking of wood frogs. Their combined clamor can be heard 4 or 5 

 miles away when the atmospheric conditions are favorable. Two eggs are 

 generally laid, but many nests contain only one. Both birds incubate, the 

 females between 2 o'clock p. m. and 9 or 10 o'clock the next morning. The 

 males feed twice each day, namely, from daj^light to about 8 o'clock, and 

 again late in the afternoon. The females feed only during the forenoon. 



