WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 339 



found the doves quite abundant and shot many ol 

 them. They were, however, but an incident to the 

 other sport. I did not go out of my way to shoot 

 them, preferring to follow the dogs where the par- 

 tridges were plentiful. 



In some of the States the dove is no longer a game 

 bird, being protected at all times by laws passed under 

 the influence of a sentiment which has nothing to sus- 

 tain it. Our dove does not go about carrying olive 

 branches. He is not the color of doves used as a dec- 

 oration at funerals and to adorn tombstones. He is 

 no more tame, or friendly, or beautiful than the par- 

 tridge who whistles " Bob-white." As a songster he is 

 not a success. I prefer the cheery whistle of Bob- 

 white to his mournful note. He flies well, is a diffi- 

 cult mark, and is very good to eat. He is, in every 

 sense, a game bird, but would be better could he be 

 induced to lie more often to the dogs. 



THE PASSENGER-PIGEON. 



The common wild pigeon, the passenger-pigeon of 

 the ornithologists, is a beautiful bird of a gray-blue 

 color above with a red breast and with bright irides- 

 cent feathers on the neck, reflecting red and bronze. 

 It has a black bill and feet of lake red. These pigeons 

 inhabited the continent of North America from the 

 Alantic to the Great Plains, and from the Southern 

 States to the sixty-second parallel of north latitude in 

 the interior. I made the statement some years ago, in 

 writing for a magazine, that the passenger-pigeons 

 were not found on the Pacific Coast. The editor soon 

 had numerous letters from the Pacific States calling 



