_Columba macroura_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. X p. 164 (1758--Ex Catesby,
Carolina I p. 23, pl. 23 [1754]. "Habitat in Canada, hybernat in
Carolina." Regarding the necessity of accepting this name see Bangs,
Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington XIX p. 42, and Auk 1906, pp. 474, 475. The
conclusions of Messrs. Bangs and Allen are perfectly correct).
_Columba canadensis_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, p. 284 (1766--Ex
Brisson, Orn. I p. 118. Habitat in Canada. Cf. note of Salvadori, Cat.
B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 369).
_Columba migratoria_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII p. 285 (Ex Frisch,
pl. 142, Kalm., Brisson I, p. 100, Catesby. "Habitat in America
Septentrionali copiosissima ..."); Wilson, Amer. Orn. I p. 102, pl.
XLIX (1808); Temminck & Knip, Pigeons I, seconde fam., pls. 48, 49
(1808-11); Audubon, Orn. Biogr. I, p. 319 (1831); Baird, Brewer &
Ridgway, Hist. N.A.B., Land-Birds III, p. 368, pl. 57, 4 (1874).
_Pigeon de Passage_ Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois. II, p. 527 (1771).
_Tourterelle du Canada_ Daubenton, Pl. Enl. 176.
_Columba Histrio_ P.L.S. Müller, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 134 (1776--ex
Buffon).
_Columba ventralis_ id., l.c. p. 134 (1776--ex Buffon).
_Ectopistes migratoria_ Swainson, Zool. Journal III, p. 362 (1827);
Gould, B. Europe, pl. 247 (1848); Coues, B. North-West, p. 387 (1874);
Maynard, B. E. North America, p. 335 (1881).
_Trygon migratoria_ Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vög. Deutschl., p. 495
(1831).
_Ectopistes migratorius_ G. R. Gray, Gen. B. II, p. 471 (1844);
Brewster, Auk 1889, pp. 286-291; Bendire, Life-History N. Amer. B., p.
132; Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 370; Proc. Delaware Valley
Ornith. Club II, p. 17 (1898); A.O.U. Check-List (Ed. II) p. 120, No.
315 (1895); Wintle, B. Montreal, p. 51 (1896); Minot, B. New England,
p. 395 (1895); Auk 1903, p. 66.
_Trygon gregaria_ Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 258 (1855).
It is true that Linnaeus' diagnosis of his _Columba macroura_ is very
short, reading, as it does, as follows: "Columba cauda cuneiformi longa,
pectore purpurascente." These words, however, are clearly taken from
Catesby, who gives an excellent figure and description, as is also the
"Habitat," viz.: {168} Habitat in Canada, hybernat in Carolina, though
Linnaeus first quotes Edwards 15, pl. 15, where an entirely different bird
is described and figured. (Cf. Bangs, l.c.)
The Passenger Pigeon in former times occurred throughout North America in
great abundance, from the Atlantic to the great Central Plains, and from
the Southern States, where it rarely occurred, north to at least 62°
northern latitude. Being a migrant, this bird used to migrate southwards
after the breeding season, and to return to their homes in spring, but it
also shifted its quarters according to the abundance or scarcity of food,
like our Pigeons. Sometimes incredible numbers flocked together. Such
stupendous flights have been described independently by Audubon, Wilson and
others. In 1813 Audubon says that during his whole journey from Hardensburg
to Louisville, fifty-five miles, countless masses of Pigeons continued to
pass over, and also did so during the three following days. "At times they
flew so low, that multitudes were destroyed, and for many days the entire
population seemed to eat nothing else but Pigeons." Where they roosted in
millions, the dung soon covered the ground and destroyed the grass and
undergrowth, limbs and even small trees broke down from the weight of the
birds. "One of the breeding places visited by Wilson, not far from
Shelbyville, Kentucky, stretched through the forest in nearly a north and
south direction. This was several miles in breadth, and upwards of forty
miles in extent. In this immense tract nearly every tree was furnished with
nests wherever there were branches to accommodate them. He was informed by
those who sought to plunder the nests of the squabs, that the noise in the
woods was so great as to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult
for one person to hear another speak. The ground was strewed with broken
limbs, eggs and young Pigeons. Hawks were sailing about in great numbers,
while from twenty feet upwards to the tops of the trees there was a
perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multitudes of Pigeons, their
wings resounding like thunder, and mingled with the frequent crash of
falling trees. In one instance he counted ninety nests in a single tree."
It is only natural that man took advantage of such vast multitudes, and
that they were killed in great numbers, for food, and, maybe, sometimes
wantonly destroyed. Yet it is difficult to understand what brought on their
total destruction, as their power of flight was great, and their vision
remarkably keen. In 1874 Messrs. Baird, Brewer and Ridgway considered them
still common birds, though "their abundance in large extents of the country
had {169} been very sensibly reduced." At that time "in the New England
States and in the more cultivated part of the country, these birds no
longer bred in large communities. The instance near Montpelier, in 1849, is
the only marked exception that has come within my knowledge. They now breed
in isolated pairs, their nests being scattered through the woods and seldom
near one another." In 1895, in the A.O.U. check-list, the authors say:
"Breeding range now mainly restricted to portions of the Canadas and the
northern borders of the United States, as far west as Manitoba and the
Dakotas."
At the present time the Passenger Pigeon seems to have entirely
disappeared, a small flock in an aviary apparently being all that is left
of it alive. Mr. James H. Fleming, of Toronto, kindly sends me the
following notes, which I think are of the greatest interest:--
"The disappearance of the Passenger Pigeon in Ontario dates back at least
forty years, though as late as 1870 some of the old roosts were still
frequented, but the incredible flocks, of which so much has been said, had
gone long before that date, and by 1880 the pigeon was practically
exterminated, not only in Ontario, but over the greater part of its old
range. There are however occasional records of birds taken, for some years
later. An immature bird taken September 9, 1887, in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, is said to be the last for that part of the State[4]; a bird,
also immature, is in my collection, taken in December, 1888, at Montreal,
Quebec. There are other Montreal records of the same date,[5] but with the
exception of one taken at Tadousac, July 26, 1889,[6] these are the last
Quebec records of birds actually taken. In Ontario two were taken at
Toronto in 1890, on September 20, and October 11, both immature females,
the latter is in my collection, as is an adult female taken by Mr. Walter
Brett, at Riding Mountain, Manatoba, May 12, 1892, one of a pair seen. I
also have an adult male taken at Waukegon, Illinois, December 19, 1892. I
was in New York in the latter part of November, 1892, and was then assured
by Mr. Rowland, a well known taxidermist, that he had recently seen several
barrels of pigeons that had been condemned as unfit for food; they had come
to New York from Indian Territory, and I believe had had their tails pulled
out to permit tighter packing. Mr. William Brewster has recorded the
sending of several hundred dozens of pigeons to the Boston market in
December of the same year, and in January, 1893; these were also from
Indian Territory[7]; these are the last records we have of the Passenger
Pigeon as anything more than a casual migrant. The records ceased after
this till 1898, when three birds were taken at points widely apart, {170}
an adult male at Winnipegosis, Manatoba, on April 14,[8] an immature male
at Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 27, now in the Smithsonian Institution, and
another immature bird taken at Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, now in
my collection; these are the last records that can be based on specimens.
"In 1903 I published a list including sight records, one as late as May,
1902; this latter is possibly open to doubt, but the ones I gave for 1900
are, I feel confident, correct, as the birds were seen more than once and
by different observers. For all practical purposes, the close of the
Nineteenth Century saw the final extinction of the Passenger Pigeon in a
wild state, and there remained only the small flock, numbering in 1903 not
more than a dozen, that had been bred in captivity by Prof. C. O. Whitman,
of Chicago; these birds are the descendants of a single pair, and have long
ago ceased to breed. It was in an effort to obtain fresh blood for this
flock that I started a newspaper enquiry that brought many replies, none of
which could be substantiated as records of the Passenger Pigeon, and many
referred to the Mourning Dove. I am aware that there has been lately
wide-spread and persistent rumours of the return of the pigeons, but no
rumour has borne investigation, and I feel that Prof. Whitman's small
flock, now reduced (in 1906) to five birds, are the last representatives of
a species around whose disappearance mystery and fable will always gather."
{171}