This genus includes a great variety of doves and pigeons, all of which
are remarkable for their tenderness and constancy.
The PASSENGER PIGEON.--Audubon gives us the following description of a
forest in Ohio, which was the resort of the passenger pigeon: "Every
thing proved to me that the number of birds resorting to this place
must be immense beyond conception. As the period of their arrival
approached, a great number of persons collected, and prepared to
receive them. Some were furnished with iron pots, containing brimstone;
others with torches of pine-knots; many with poles, and the rest with
guns. Two farmers had driven upwards of two hundred hogs more than a
hundred miles, to be fattened upon the devoted pigeons! The sun was
lost to our view, yet not a pigeon had arrived. Every thing was ready,
and all eyes were gazing on the clear sky, when suddenly there burst
forth a general cry of 'Here they come!' The noise that they made,
though far distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea through the
rigging of a close-reefed vessel. As the birds arrived, and passed over
me, I felt a current of air that surprised me. Thousands were soon
knocked down by the pole-men. The birds continued to pour in. The fires
were lighted, and a magnificent as well as terrifying sight presented
itself. Pigeons, arriving in thousands, alighted every where, one over
another, until solid masses as large as hogsheads were formed on the
branches all around. It was a scene of uproar and confusion. I found it
quite useless to speak, or even to shout, to those persons nearest to
me. This uproar continued all night. Towards day the pigeons began to
move off, and at sunrise, all that could fly had disappeared: the dead
and the dying were then picked up and piled in heaps, while the hogs
were let loose to feed on the remainder."
MUSICAL PIGEON.--Bertoni, a famous instructor in music, while residing
in Venice, took a pigeon for his companion, and, being very fond of
birds, made a great pet of it. The pigeon, by being constantly in his
master's company, obtained so perfect an ear for music, that no one who
saw his behavior could doubt for a moment the pleasure it took in
hearing his master play and sing.
CARRIER PIGEON.--Some years ago, two persons arrived in London, from
Antwerp, with 110 pigeons, to be thrown off there for the purpose of
ascertaining whether they would find their way back, and if so, in what
time they would perform the journey. The pigeons were contained in
eight enclosures, constructed of wire and canvass, and capable of
admitting a sufficiency of air to the birds, and at the top of each was
a trap door of tin. The baskets were all placed side by side, and at a
given signal, on Monday morning at eight o'clock, the doors were all
lifted up, and out rushed all the pigeons at the same instant. They
rose in a flock, and bent their way immediately in the direction of
home. The men set off on foot shortly after, with certificates of the
hour of departure. Most of the pigeons reached Antwerp the same day,
the swiftest bird having arrived there in five hours and a half: the
distance he flew was 186 miles!