THE BAND-TAILED PIGEON 89 



The Passenger Pigeon is a dead species. The last wild 

 specimen (so we believe) that ever will reach the hands of 

 man was taken near Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, 

 1908, and mounted by C. Campion. That is the one definite, 

 positive record of the past ten years. 



The fate of this species should be a lasting lesson to the 

 world at large. Any wild bird or mammal species can be 

 exterminated by commercial interests in twenty years' time, 

 or less. 



The Band-Tailed Pigeon,^ of the Pacific states from 

 British Columbia to Guatemala, and eastward to the Rocky 

 Mountains, yet exists in fair abundance, and it is earnestly 

 hoped that it never will be annihilated without reason or 

 mercy, as was the sad fate of its eastern relative. Wher- 

 ever found it should be accorded legal protection, without 

 delay. 



This fine bird is conspicuously marked by a white collar 

 around its neck, and a square-ended tail which terminates with 

 a dull-white hand from one to two inches wide. The head and 

 under-parts are purplish pink, fading downward to a lighter 

 color. The back is brownish gray, fading out toward the 

 tail into a dull-blue tone. 



This Pigeon subsists upon acorns, seeds and berries, and 

 attracts attention to itself by its noisy flight. Its strange 

 vocal utterances are graphically described by Mrs. Florence 

 Merriam Bailey: 



"If you follow the pigeons to their breeding-grounds in 

 some remote canyon you will be struck by the owl-like hoot- 



* Co-lum'ha fas-ci-a'ta. Average length, 15 inches. 



