THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 425 



No. 190. 



PASSENGER PIGEON. 



A. O. U. No. 315. Ectopistes migratorius (Einn.). 



Synonyms. — Wild Pigeon; Migratory Pigeon. 



Description. — Adult male: Upper parts and head all around bluish slate, 

 purest on head and rump, with beautiful metallic iridescence, — purplish red and 

 golden on sides and back of neck, glossed with oHve on back, heavily shaded with 

 olive-gray on middle back and proximal portion of wings ; the outer scapulars and 

 inner wing-coverts and tertials spotted or tipped with velvety black; primaries 

 fuscous, with some gray external edging; tail tapering, its feathers graduated for 

 more than half its length, the central pair of feathers blackish, the remainder white 

 on exposed portions and below; chest and below deep vinaceous-rufous, fading 

 through vinaceous-pink on lower breast and sides to white of lower belly and 

 crissum; iris orange, surrounding skin red; bill black; "feet lake red, drying an 

 undefinable color." Adult female : Similar to male, but brownish gray on head 

 paling on throat ; under parts drab, fading to pale brownish gray on sides ; irides- 

 cence of neck less marked ; a little smaller. Immature \ Similar to adult female 

 but mottled by whitish tips of feathers on upper parts of wing, head, neck, and 

 fore-breast. Length 15.00-17.50 (381. -444.5) ; wing 8.25 (209.6) ; tail 8.00-9.00 

 (203.2-228.6); bill .72 (18.3). 



Recognition Marks. — Little Hawk size ; long tail ; graceful, rapid flight. 



Nest, a frail platform of twigs, at moderate heights in trees. I^ggs, i or 2, 

 pure white. Av. size, 1.48 x 1.07 (37.6 x 27.2). 



General Range. — "Eastern North America from Hudson Bay southward, and 

 west to the Great Plains, straggling thence to Nevada and Washington. Breed- 

 ing range now mainly restricted to portions of the Canadas and the northern border 

 of the United States as far west as Manitoba and the Dakotas." — A. O. U. 1895. 

 Present range still more restricted, and breeding haunts unknown (1903). 



Range in Ohio. — Formerly exceedingly abundant migrant and summer resi- 

 dent. Bred locally in vast numbers ; now almost unknown. "Last records" are 

 coming in from various c|uarters, but they are mainly from ten to twenty years old. 



NO more marvellous tales have been handed down to us from a remote 

 past, than those which our own fathers tell and solemnly asseverate, concern- 

 ing the former abundance of the Wild Pigeon during its migrations and in 

 its breeding haunts. During their passage the sun was darkened and the 

 moon refused to give her light. The beating of their wings was like the 

 voice of thunder, and their steady on-coming like the continuous roar of 

 Niagara. Where they roosted great branches, and even trees two feet in 

 diameter, were broken down beneath their weight, and where they nested 

 a hundred square miles of timber groaned with the weight of their nests or 

 lay buried in ordure. 



At the beginning of the last century the species enjoyed a general dis- 

 tribution throughout the northern portions of the Eastern States and was to 

 be found scatteringly to the Pacific Coast. The birds were, however, rather 



