0:e THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 15 



again almost perpendicularly in huge columns, wheeling and gyrating in the air 

 like the coils of a vast serpent. These aerial movements were particularly 

 fine as the flocks were about to settle upon ground where food was abundant, 

 the birds passing in circles lower and lower over the woods, and at length 

 alighting, only to rise again immediately as if suddenly alarmed or fearful of 

 some hidden danger. Dr. Brewer writes that "when at last settled upon the 

 ground, they industriously search among the fallen leaves for the acorns and 

 beech mast, the rear flocks continually rising, passing over the main body, and 

 re-alighting. These changes are so frequent that at times the whole collection 

 appears to be in motion. A large extent of ground is thus cleared in a surprisingly 

 short space of time, and cleared with a completeness that is described as incredible. 

 They are usually satiated by the middle of the day, and ascend to the trees to 

 rest and digest their food. On these occasions the Pigeons are destroyed in 

 immense numbers, and their abundance in large extents of the country has been 

 very sensibly reduced." The food of the Passenger Pigeon consists of grain, 

 berries of various kinds, wild fruits, beech mast and acorns, as well as angle 

 worms and hairless caterpillars. The birds' devastations amongst crops used 

 formerly to be very serious. The note of this Pigeon during the breeding season 

 is described as a short coo-coo ; and its ordinary call note as a treble Jcee-kee-Jcee, 

 the first louder, and the last softer than the middle one. 



Nidification. — The Passenger Pigeon has been known to commence 

 nesting in Wisconsin and Iowa as early as the first week of April, and in Connec- 

 ticut and Minnesota as late as the first half of June. This species used formerly 

 to breed in vast colonies, but of late years these enormous gatherings have ceased, 

 owing to the wholesale slaughter of the nesting birds. Passenger Pigeons used 

 formerly to arrive from the south in certain districts — the choice often varying 

 from year to year — and to settle down to the business of reproduction. Some of 

 these colonies were of enormous dimensions. Mr. W. Brewster, who has devoted 

 much attention to this species, was informed by Mr. Stevens, a veteran Pigeon 

 netter, that the largest " nesting " of this Pigeon that he ever visited was in 

 1876 or 1877, in Michigan. He informed him that the Pigeons arrived in two 

 separate flocks, one coming directly from the south over land, the other following 

 the east coast of Wisconsin, and crossing Lake Michigan by way of Manitou 

 Island. He watched the latter flock come in from across the lake about three 

 o'clock in the afternoon — a vast compact mass of Pigeons at least five miles long 

 and one mile wide ! The birds began to build whilst the snow was still twelve 

 inches deep in the woods, and the vast colony spread rapidly from the neighbour- 

 hood of Petosky in a north-easterly direction for twenty-eight miles, and on an 

 average four or five miles in width. It is said that nesting usually begins in 

 deciduous woods, but the colony rapidly spreads as the birds begin building in rapid 

 succession, and no choice of tree is shown. In this particular "nesting" the first 



