126 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



a fawn or greyish, variously mingled with spots of 

 black and white, Nearly all have a slight iridescence 

 about the neck and head and sometimes on the wings. 

 A few species have long, sharp-pointed tails like that 

 of the Passenger Pigeon and Mourning Dove, but 

 most of them have short, square tails. 



The remarkable extinct bird known as the Dodo 

 was long a puzzle to scientific men, but is now loiown 

 to have belonged to the Pigeon tribe. It was an in- 

 habitant of Mauritius and was discovered by the early 

 sea captains who visited the iisland in search of water. 

 The Dodo was as heavy or heavier than the Turkey- 

 cock and round and ungainly in appearance. The 

 head was enormously large, the bill long and sharply 

 recurved. It was absolutely flightless, the wings 

 being represented by a few small, fluffy, Ostrich-like 

 plumes. The legs were short and stout, the feet heavy 

 and armed with powerful claws. Being flightless and 

 clumsy and so unable to escape from their enemies, 

 these birds were very quickly exterminated, only a few 

 scattered bones and feathers now carefully preserved 

 in museums remaining of this gigantic Pigeon. 



The American Passenger Pigeon was remarkable 

 for the enormous numbers in which it existed in the 

 United States not more than fifty years ago. These 

 birds literally swarmed over the country. A flock seen 

 by the naturalist Wilson was estimated by him to con- 

 sist of many millions, and in 1813 Audubon reported 

 enormous hosts of them, so thickly packed that they 

 obscured the light of the sun at noontime as effectively 

 as an eclipse. See Plate 22, Fig. 133. 



Another naturalist, Brewster, describing the nest- 



