JIIGRATORY PIGEON. 
293 
wants the rich silky blue on the crown, and much 
'*f the splendour of the neck; the tail is also somen'hat 
shorter, and the white, with which it is marked, less 
fare. 
1^. COLUMSA MlGRATOItli, LINK^CS AND WILSON. 
MIGRATOKV PIGEON. 
WILSON*, PLATE XLIV. FIG. I.— EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEU.M. 
Tins remarkable bird merits a distiimuished place in 
annals of our feathered tribes ; a claim to which I 
?**aU endeavour to do justice; and, thon;(h it would be 
***1)08811116, in the bounds allotted to this account, to 
**late all I have seen and lieard of this species, yet 
*** circumstance shall be omitted with wdiich I am 
^•-'luainted, (however extraordinary some of these may 
*l>))ear), that may tend to illustrate its history. 
The ivild pigeon of the United States inhabits a wide 
''*d extensive region of North America, on this side 
the Great Stony Mountains, beyond which, to the 
^'estward, I have not heard of their being seen, 
^tecording to Mr Hutchins, they abound in the country 
*' 0 Hnd Hudson’s Bay, where they usually remain as late 
December, feeding, when the ground is covered with 
’*now, on the buds of juniper. They spread over the 
'*'holc of Canada ; were seen by Ca]itaiii Lewis and his 
S^fty near the Great Falls of the Missouri, upwards of 
■‘>^0 miles from its mouth, reckoning the raeanderings 
j the river; were also met with in the interior of 
lOuisiana by Colonel Pike ; and extend their range as 
south as the Gulf of Mexico ; occasionally visiting 
breeding in almost every ipiarter of the United States. 
• Dut the" most remarkable characteristic of these birds 
^ their associating together, both in their migrations, 
!*d also during the period of iucubation, in such prodi- 
5 >ou.s numbers, as almost to surpass belief ; and which 
• *0 parallel among any other of the feathered 
''■'bes, on the face of the earth, with which naturalists 
*‘6 acquainted. 
