THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 8/ 



The following notes regarding the presence of the Passenger 

 Pigeon within our limits, or in the immediate vicinity, are of con- 

 siderable interest. In 1853 Mr. Robert Kennicott listed* this 

 bird as a resident of Cook County with the comment "Very abun- 

 dant." In 1876, Mr. E. W. Nelson wrote,t "Very abundant 

 migrant; isth of March to middle of April, and in October and 

 November. Sometimes arrives in February. A few isolated 

 pairs still breed in unfrequented woods." In the Auk, July, 1895, 

 Vol. XII, 298, Mr. Ruthven Deane, of Chicago, published notes 

 which he had collated from authentic sources. These notes have 

 a distinct bearing on the Chicago Area and its vicinity. Mr. 

 Deane writes : "The occurrence of the Wild Pigeon in this sec- 

 tion of the country, and in fact throughout the west generally, is 

 becoming rarer every year and such observations and data as 

 come to our notice should be of sufficient interest to record. 



"I have, in the past few months, made inquiry of a great many 

 sportsmen who are constantly in the field and in widely distributed 

 localities, regarding any observations on the Wild Pigeon, and 

 but few of them have seen a specimen in the past eight or ten 

 years. 



"I have made frequent inquiry among the principal game deal- ■ 

 ers in Chicago and cannot learn of a single specimen that has been 

 received in our markets in several years. * * * 



"A fine male Pigeon was killed by my brother, Mr. Charles 

 E. Deane, April 18, 1877, while shooting snipe on the meadows 

 near English Lake, Indiana. The bird was alone and flew di- 

 rectly over him. I have the specimen now in my collection. 



"In September, 1888, while Teal shooting on Yellow River, 

 Stark County, Indiana, I saw a Pigeon fly up the river and alight 

 a short distance off. I secured the bird which proved to be a 

 young female. t 



"On September 17, 1887, Mr. John F. Hazen and his daugh- 

 ter Grace, of Cincinnati, Ohio, while boating on the Kankakee 

 River, near English Lake, Indiana, observed a small flock of 

 Pigeons feeding in a little oak grove bordering the river. They 

 reported the birds as quite tame and succeeded in shooting eight 

 specimens. 



"In the spring of 1893, Mr. C. B. Brown, of Chicago, Illi- 

 nois, collected a nest of the Wild Pigeon containing two eggs at 

 English Lake, Indiana, and secured both parent birds. * * * 



*Trans. Illinois State Agri. Society, Vol. I, 1853-1854, 586. 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, at the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 120. 



