2oS PASSENGER PIGEON. 



that they breed near Moose Fort at Hudson's Bay, in N. lat. 

 51°, and I myself have seen the remains of a large breeding 

 place as far south as the country of Choctaws, in lat. 32°. In 

 the former of these places they are said to remain until 

 December ; from which circumstance it is evident that they 

 are not regular in their migrations, like many other species, 

 but rove about, as scarcity of food urges them. Every 

 spring, however, as well as fall, more or less of them are 

 seen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia ; but it is only 

 once in several years that they appear in such formidable 

 bodies, and this commonly when the snows are heavy to the 

 north, the winter here more than usually mild, and acorns, &c, 

 abundant. 



The passenger pigeon is sixteen inches long, and twenty- 

 four inches in extent ; bill, black ; nostril, covered by a high 

 rounding protuberance ; eye, brilliant fiery orange ; orbit, or 

 space surrounding it, purplish flesh-coloured skin ; head, 

 upper part of the neck, and chin, a fine slate blue, lightest 

 on the chin ; throat, breast, and sides, as far as the thighs, a 

 reddish hazel ; lower part of the neck, and sides of the same, 

 resplendent changeable gold, green, and purplish crimson, 

 the latter most predominant ; the ground colour, slate ; the 

 plumage of this part is of a peculiar structure, ragged at the 

 ends ; belly and vent, white ; lower part of the breast, fading 

 into a pale vinaceous red ; thighs, the same ; legs and feet, 

 lake, seamed with white ; back, rump, and tail-coverts, dark 

 slate, spotted on the shoulders with a few scattered marks of 

 black ; the scapulars, tinged with brown ; greater coverts, 

 light slate ; primaries and secondaries, dull black, the former 

 tipt and edged with brownish white ; tail, long, and greatly 

 cuneiform, all the feathers tapering towards the point, the two 

 middle ones plain deep black, the other five, on each side, 

 hoary white, lightest near the tips, deepening into bluish near 

 the bases, where each is crossed on the inner vane with a 

 broad spot of black, and nearer the root with another of 

 ferruginous ; primaries, edged with white ; bastard wing, black. 



