TETRAONIDiE. 363 



Form. — Bill stronger than that of any of the preceding Grouse, except T. urophasianellus : 

 margin of the upper mandible sinuated. Crest springing from the forehead and crown 

 rather pointed and narrow. Third quill the longest. Tail much graduated, consisting of 

 eighteen narrow, strap-shaped feathers, the central pair* an inch longer than the adjoining 

 ones and three inches longer than the outer ones. All the feathers, but particularly the more 

 exterior ones, are worn in a peculiar manner on the edges, the truncated ends remaining 

 broader, rendering their outline somewhat fiddle-shaped. Tarsi and webs at the base of 

 the toes feathered. Toes pectinated, with long, slender processes. Nails slightly curved, 

 tapering, acute. 









Dimensions. 









Male. 



Female. 





Male. 



Female. 





Inch 



Lin. 



Inch 



Lin. 





Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Length, total 



20 







16 







Length of tarsus 



1 11 



1 10 



,, of tail . 



. 7 



(5 



5 







,, of middle toe 



• 1 7 



1 C£ 



., of wing 



. 8 



6 



8 







,, of middle nail 



(i 



(! 



„ of bill above . 







8 







71 



,, of hind toe . 



. 7 



£J 



,, of bill to rictus . 



. 1 



2 



1 



2 



,, of hind nail ■ 



• 4i 



4 



— R. 



[132.] 1. Columba (Ectopistes) migratoria. (Sw.) Passenger Pigeon. 



Genus, Columha, Linn. Sub-genus, Ectopistest, Swains. 



Columba migratoria. Forstek, Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 398, No. 19. 



Passenger Pigeon. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 322, No. 187- Wils., v., p. 102, pi. 44, f. 1 ; male. 



Columba migratoria. Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. C79. Bonap. Syn. } No. 200. 



Mimewuck. Cb.ee Indians. 



This celebrated bird arrives in the fur-countries in the latter end of May, and 

 departs in October. It annually attains the sixty-second degree of latitude in 

 the warmer central districts, but reaches the fifty-eighth parallel on the coast of 

 Hudson's Bay in very fine summers only. Mr. Hutchins mentions a flock of 

 these pigeons visiting and staying two days at York Factory, in 1775, as a 

 remarkable occurrence. A few hordes of Indians, that frequent the low, flooded 

 tracts at the south end of Lake Winipeg, subsist principally on the pigeons 

 during a period of the summer when the sturgeon -fishery is unproductive, and 

 the Zizania aqnatica has not yet ripened ; but, farther north, these birds are too 

 few in number to furnish a material article of diet. In Canada, throughout the 



* The two central pairs of tail feathers would be more properly, perhaps, termed long coverts ; their barbs are 

 softer, and their webs do not wear away on the edges (or at least not so strongly) as the true tail feathers. — R. 

 t Th. i-ATOTn^u, peregre, aleo. 



3 A 2 



