We regret that a full monograph of this remarkable bird cannot be
given in this number. It is the giant among Pigeons and has some
characteristics, on account of its great size, not common to the family.
Very little has been written about it, and it would be a real service to
ornithology if some one familiar with the subject would communicate his
knowledge to the public. These birds pair for life, and the loss or
death of a mate is in many cases mourned and grieved over, the survivor
frequently refusing to be consoled.
The Pigeon family is an exceedingly interesting one, of great variety of
form and color, undergoing constant change by inter-breeding. There are
about three hundred known species of Pigeons and Doves, about one third
of which number are found in the New World. In North America but twelve
species occur, a family small enough to find room in BIRDS to sit for
their pictures. Some of these birds, says Chapman, are arboreal, others
are strictly terrestrial. Some seek the forests and others prefer the
fields and clearings. Some nest in colonies, others in isolated pairs,
but most species are found in flocks of greater or less size after the
nesting season. When drinking, they do not raise the head as others do
to swallow, but keep the bill immersed until the draught is finished.
The young are born naked and are fed by regurgitation.
Living specimens of this the largest species of Pigeons may some day be
brought to the United States and made to increase as the Ring-necked
English Pheasant has already been domesticated in their own country. It
has been suggested that their introduction among us would be a
comparatively easy matter.