WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON. 7 



to the heavily timbered districts of Micliigan to find large flocks of 

 Pigeons, and even there we can find but a remnant of the hosts 

 that assembled in those regions a few years ago. 



The most important of recent contributions to the biography of 

 this^ species is )VIr. William Brewster's article in " The Auk " 

 for October, 1889. He tells there of a "nesting" in Michigan in 

 1S77 that covered an area twenty-eight miles long and three to four 

 miles wide, and says : " For the entire distance of twenty-eight 

 miles every tree of any size had more or less nests, and 'many trees 

 were filled with them." 



Brewster visited Michigan in 1888, and heard that a large flock 

 had passed over the northern section of the southern penninsula, 

 but it had gone farther north before nesting, — he could not find it. 

 He thinks the flock was sufficiently large to stock the Western 

 States again, were these birds protected for a few years from the 

 terrific slaughter that now imperils their existence ; for it is simply 

 this slaughter that has diminished the numbers of the birds. There 

 is no mystery about their disappearance, as many writers have tried 

 to represent. Doubtless this species has been irregular in appear- 

 ing in any given locality at all times, the movements of the flocks 

 being influenced by the food supply. But the Pigeons have been 

 exterminated in the East just as they are being exterminated in the 

 West, — by "netting." One old netter told Mr. Brewster that 

 during 1881 as many as five hundred men were engaged in netting 

 Pigeons in Michigan, and, said he, "They captured on the average 

 twenty thousand apiece during the season." At this rate the Pigeon 

 will soon join the buffalo on that list so disgraceful to humanity, 

 " the extinct species," — a list that will be filled rapidly if a check 

 is not put on men's avarice and the law's shameful negligence. 



WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON. 



COLUMBA LEUCOCEPHALA. 



•Char. General color dark slate blue, darker on wings and tail, paler 

 below ; upper part of head white ; cape on hind neck of rich maroon, and 

 below it a band of metallic green, each feather bordered with scale-like 

 patches of black. Length about i^/i inches. 



JVest. In low tree or bush, made of twigs and roots, lined with grass. 



£^j. 2; white; 1.40 X 1.05. 



This species, well known as an inhabitant of Mexico and 

 the West Indies, is also gregarious, and found in great numbers 



