SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 433 



PASSENGER PIGEON {Eciopistes migratorius). 

 Common name : Wild Pigeon. 



Length. — 15.50 to 16 inctes. 



Male. — Eye orange, bare space surrounding it purplish flesh color; head, 

 upper part of neck and chin bright slate blue; throat, breast and sides 

 reddish and hazel; part of neck and its sides resplendent changeable 

 gold and green metallic lusters; upper parts mainly dull blue; lower 

 parts reddish or chestnut fading toward tail; back and parts of wings 

 tinged with olive; shoulders and upper wings black-spotted; long wing 

 feathers and long middle tail feathers blackish; outer tail feathers white 

 or bluish, their inner webs black and chestnut near the base. 



Female. — Much duller above and bluish or gray beneath. 



Young. — Duller still, the feathers of upper parts with whitish edgings 

 and the wing feathers with rufous edgings. 



Nest. — ■ A frail platform of twigs in a tree. 



Eggs. — One, rarely two, about 1.50 by 1.12; pure white. 



Notes. — Coo-coo-coo-coo, much shorter than that of the domestic pigeon; 

 and kee-kee-kee-kee, the first loudest, the others diminishing (Audu- 

 bon). See also Craig, Auk, 1911, pp. 408-427. 



Season. — In Massachusetts, formerly March to December. 



Range. — North America, from the high plains of the Rocky Mountain 

 region to the Atlantic, ranging from the fur countries to the Gulf States; 

 one specimen recorded from Cuba. Casual in Mexico and Nevada. 



HiSTOKY. 



More interest is evinced in the history of the Passenger 

 Pigeon and its fate than in that of any other North American 

 bird. Its story reads like a romance. Once the most abun- 

 dant species, in its flights and on its nesting grounds, ever 

 known in any country, ranging over the greater part of the 

 continent of North America in innumerable hordes, the race 

 seems to have disappeared within the past thirty years, leav- 

 ing no trace. Men now living can remember its appearance 

 in countless multitudes in the western States, but the fact 

 that similar immense armies once ranged over the Atlantic 

 seaboard is almost forgotten. Nevertheless, this was a most 

 important part of its range, and its vast legions roamed over 

 the country from the Carolinas to the Maritime Provinces of 

 Canada, and even to the Barren Grounds and Hudson Bay. 



The Passenger Pigeon was described by Linne in the latter 



