COLUMB^. 321 



pigeons, unlike all other birds, drink much as human 

 beings do, by a continuous draught, swallowing mean- 

 while, not by single sips, elevating the bill after each sip, 

 as other birds do. 



As to the members of this order outside the pigeons 

 and the doves which are common to the United States: 

 in Cuba, there is the blue-headed pigeon, terrestrial not 

 arboreal in its habits. The Nicobar pigeon of New 

 Guinea has long, plume-like feathers covering the body 

 from the nape backward to the region of the secondaries. 

 The Australian pigeons are bronze-tailed, spend part of 

 their time in trees, and part of it on the ground. The 

 African pigeons are more brilliantly colored than our 

 American pigeons, combining green, black, copper, 

 purple, and red-brown as washes or solid blotches of color. 

 In all the countries where the columbine birds are known, 

 some of them are used for food. 



The passenger pigeon is known in most countries. 

 It is like the gypsies among the human tribes, here, 

 there, and everywhere. It looks more like our mourning 

 dove than it does like our domestic pigeon, though it is 

 larger than 'the mourning dove and more brilliantly 

 colored. Formerly it was very abundant in the United 

 States. Their foraging for food became a serious matter; 

 and their nesting-places became a nuisance because of the 

 immense flocks with their disturbing noises and their 

 displacing of other more valuable birds. A bounty was 

 placed upon them ; and under its provisions their numbers 

 steadily decreased until now they are rare in any locality. 



