12 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Qenus ECTOPISTES, or Passenger Pigeons. 



Type, ECTOPISTES MIGEATOEIUS. 



Ectopistes, of Swainson (1827). — The Passenger Pigeon presents 

 characteristics so widely differing from other members of the ColumbidEe that 

 Count Salvadori elevates it to sub-family rank in that group. Generic distinction, 

 however, is all that we feel disposed to accord to it. The birds in the present 

 genus are characterised by having the tail longer than the wing, the feathers 

 being narrow and acuminated. 



But one species of Passenger Pigeon is known, and this is confined to the 

 Nearctic Region from Hudson's Bay south and west to the Great Plains. Details 

 of its distribution and habits are given in the account of the species. 



