_Columba migratoria_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 285.—GM. I,
389.—FORSTER, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 398.—WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808,
102, pl. xliv.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 91.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I,
1831, 319; V, 561, pl. lxii. _Ectopistes migratoria_, SWAINSON, Zoöl.
Jour. III, 1827, 355.—IB. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 363.—BON. Consp. Av.
II, 1854, 59.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 194.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 25, pl.
cclxxxv.—“REICH. Icones Av. tab. 249, figs. 1377, 1379.”—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 600.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 424.—LORD, Pr. R. A. I. IV,
122 (British Columbia, from coast; nest on ground).—COOPER & SUCKLEY,
218.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 509. _Columba canadensis_, LINNÆUS,
Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 284.—GM. I, 1788, 785. Female or young. (Prior
name ?) _Columba americana_, “KALM, It. II, 527.” _Passenger Pigeon_,
PENNANT, II, 322.—LATH. Syn. II, II, 661.
SP. CHAR. Tail with twelve feathers. Upper parts generally, including
sides of body, head, and neck, and the chin, blue. Beneath, purple
brownish-red, fading behind into a violet tint. Anal region and under
tail-coverts bluish-white. Scapulars, inner tertials, and middle of
back with an olive-brown tinge; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and inner
tertials with large oval spots of blue-black on the outer webs, mostly
concealed, except on the latter. Primaries blackish, with a border of
pale bluish tinged internally with red. Middle tail-feather brown; the
rest pale blue on the outer web, white internally; each with a patch
of reddish-brown at the base of the inner web, followed by another of
black. Sides and back of neck richly glossed with metallic golden-violet
or reddish-purple. Tibiæ bluish-violet. Bill black. Feet lake-red. The
female is smaller, much duller in color, more olivaceous above; beneath,
pale ash instead of red, except a tinge on the neck; the jugulum tinged
with olive, the throat whitish. Length of male, 17.00; wing, 8.50; tail,
8.40.
HAB. North America to high Central Plains; West Humboldt Mountains,
Nevada (September; RIDGWAY). Cuba (GUNDL. Rep. I, 1866, 302; CAB. J. IX,
112).
The blue of the side of the head extends to the throat and chin. The
upper part of the back and lesser coverts are of a darker blue than the
head and rump. The inner primaries are more broadly margined with light
blue, which tapers off to the end. The axillars and under surface of the
wing are light blue. The longest scapulars have the black on both webs.
There is no blue on the outer web of the first tail-feather, which is
white, as is the inferior surface of the tail generally.
[Illustration: _Ectopistes migratoria._]
In some specimens the entire head all round is blue.
The immature male varies in having most of the feathers of the head and
body margined with whitish.
HABITS. The common Passenger Pigeon of North America is found throughout
the continent in great abundance, from the Atlantic to the great Central
Plains, and from the Southern States, in which it only occasionally
occurs, to at least the 62d parallel of northern latitude, in the
interior.
Richardson states that this Pigeon arrives in the fur countries in the
latter part of May and leaves in October. On the coast of Hudson’s
Bay it reaches no farther than the 58th parallel, and only in very
fine summers, but in the interior or in the warmer central districts
it attains to the 62d degree. Mr. Hutchins mentions, as a remarkable
occurrence, that a flock of these Pigeons visited York Factory and
remained two days.
It is not found on the Pacific coast. Dr. Suckley only met with a single
bird in immature plumage on a branch of Milk River, in Nebraska, about
one hundred and seventy-five miles east of the Rocky Mountains; he
thinks the eastern base may be considered their western limit. Dr.
Cooper has seen it at Fort Laramie, but has never seen nor heard of it
in Oregon, though Townsend mentions it as found there.
Dr. Woodhouse found these Pigeons common throughout the Indian Territory
in the spring and fall, during their migrations.
Captain Blakiston noticed the first arrival of the Passenger Pigeons at
Fort Carlton, on the 23d of May. By the middle of June numerous flocks
were moving northward. These could, at a long distance, be readily
distinguished from flocks of water-fowl or waders, by their flight being
in no particular order. On the Mackenzie, Mr. Ross observed these birds
as far north as Fort Norman in latitude 65°, while on the coast of
Hudson’s Bay they are only found as far as 58°, even in warm summers.
The Wild Pigeon appears to be almost entirely influenced in its
migrations by the abundance of its food, excepting in those parts of the
country in which it has not been known to remain during winter. Even in
these movements it is largely influenced by instinctive considerations
of food. Evidently the temperature has but little to do with their
migrations, as they not unfrequently move northward in large columns
as early as the 7th of March, with a thermometer twenty degrees below
the freezing-point. In the spring of 1872 a large accumulation of
these birds took place early in March, in the eastern portion of New
York. They were present in the forests about Albany, and were taken in
such immense numbers that the markets of New York and Boston were very
largely supplied with them.
As early as the 10th of March they were ascertained to have in their
ovaries full-grown eggs, ready for exclusion. In Kentucky they have been
known, according to Audubon, to remain summer and winter in the same
districts for several successive years, in consequence of the great
abundance of food, while in other parts of the State none were to be met
with. They suddenly disappeared as soon as the beech-mast had become
exhausted, and did not return for a long period.
The Wild Pigeons are capable of propelling themselves in long-continued
flights, and are known to move with an almost incredible rapidity,
passing over a great extent of country in a very short time. It is
quite a common and well-ascertained fact that Pigeons are captured in
the State of New York with their crops still filled with the undigested
grains of rice that must have been taken in the distant fields of
Georgia or South Carolina, apparently proving that they must have passed
over the intervening space within a very few hours. Audubon estimates
the rapidity of their flight as at least a mile a minute.
The Wild Pigeons are said to move, in their flight, by quickly repeated
flaps of the wings, which are brought more or less near to the body,
according to the degree of velocity required. During the love-season
they often fly in a circling manner, supporting themselves with both
wings angularly elevated. Before alighting, they break the force of
their flight by repeated flappings.
Their great powers of flight, and the ability thus given to change at
will their residence, and their means of renewing a supply of food, are
also thought to be seconded by a remarkable power of vision, enabling
them to discover their food with great readiness. Mr. Audubon states
that he has observed flocks of these birds, in passing over a sterile
part of the country, fly high in the air, with an extended front,
enabling them to survey hundreds of acres at once. When the land is
richly covered with food, or the trees well supplied with mast, they fly
low in order to discover the part most plentifully supplied.
Several writers, who have witnessed the occasionally enormous flights
of these Pigeons, have given very full and graphic accounts of their
immense numbers that seem hardly credible to those who have not seen
them. Mr. Audubon relates that in 1813, on his way from Henderson to
Louisville, in crossing the barrens near Hardensburg, he observed
these birds flying to the southwest in greater numbers than he had
ever known before. He attempted to count the different flocks as they
successively passed, but after counting one hundred and sixty-three in
twenty-one minutes he gave it up as impracticable. As he journeyed on,
their numbers seemed to increase. The air seemed filled with Pigeons,
and the light of noonday to be obscured as by an eclipse. Not a single
bird alighted, as the woods were destitute of mast, and all flew so high
that he failed to reach any with a rifle. He speaks of their aerial
evolutions as beautiful in the extreme, especially when a Hawk pressed
upon the rear of a flock. All at once, like a torrent, and with a noise
like that of thunder, they rushed together into a compact mass, and
darted forward in undulating lines, descending and sweeping near the
earth with marvellous velocity, then mounting almost perpendicularly
in a vast column, wheeling and twisting so that their continued lines
seemed to resemble the coils of a gigantic serpent. During the whole
of his journey from Hardensburg to Louisville, fifty-five miles, they
continued to pass in undiminished numbers, 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.
When a flight of Pigeons discovers an abundant supply of food,
sufficient to induce them to alight, they are said to pass around in
circles over the place, making various evolutions, after a while passing
lower over the woods, and at length alighting; then, as if suddenly
alarmed, taking to flight, only to return immediately. These manœuvres
are repeated with various indications of indecision in their movements,
or as if apprehensive of unseen dangers. During these manœuvres the
flapping of their many thousand wings causes a reverberation suggestive
of distant thunder. When at last settled upon the ground, they
industriously search among the fallen leaves for the acorns and the
beech-mast, the rear flocks continually rising, passing over the main
body, and realighting. These changes are so frequent that at times the
whole collection appears to be in motion. A large extent of ground is
thus cleared in a surprisingly short space of time, and cleared with a
completeness that is described as incredible. They are usually satiated
by the middle of the day, and ascend to the trees to rest and digest
their food. On these occasions the Pigeons are destroyed in immense
numbers, and their abundance in large extents of the country has been
very sensibly reduced.
In its movements on the ground, as also when alighted on the branches of
trees, the Wild Pigeon is remarkable for its ease and grace. It walks on
the ground and also on the limbs of trees with an easy, graceful motion,
frequently jerking its tail and moving its neck backward and forward.
Mr. Audubon states that in Kentucky he has repeatedly visited one of
the remarkable roosting-places to which these birds resort at night.
This one was on the banks of Green River, and to this place the birds
came every night at sunset, arriving from all directions, some of them
from the distance of several hundred miles, as was conjectured from
certain observations. This roost was in a portion of the forest where
the trees were of great magnitude. It was more than forty miles in
length, and averaged three in breadth. It had been occupied as a roost
about a fortnight when he visited it. Their dung was several inches
deep on the ground, covering the whole extent of the roosting-place.
Many trees, two feet in diameter, had been broken down by their weight,
as well as many branches of the largest and tallest trees. The forest
seemed as if it had been swept by a tornado. Everything gave evidence
that the number of birds resorting to that part of the forest must be
immense. A large number of persons collected before sunset to destroy
them, provided with torches of pine-knots, and armed with long poles
and guns. The Pigeons began to collect after sunset, their approach
preceded, even when they were at a distance, by a noise like that of
a hard gale at sea sounding in the rigging of a vessel. As the birds
passed over him, they created a strong current of air. The birds arrived
by thousands, fires were lighted, and the work of destruction commenced.
Many were knocked down by the pole-men. In many cases they collected in
such solid masses on the branches that several of their perches gave way
and fell to the ground, in this way destroying hundreds of the birds
beneath them. It was a scene of great confusion and continued until past
midnight, the Pigeons still continuing to arrive. The sound made by the
birds at the roost could be heard at the distance of three miles. As day
approached, the noise in some measure subsided; and long before objects
were distinguishable the Pigeons began to move off, and before daylight
all that were able to fly had disappeared. The dead and wounded birds
were then collected and piled into heaps by those who had assembled for
the purpose.
Though for the most part living, moving, and feeding together in large
companies, the Wild Pigeon mates in pairs for purposes of breeding. They
have several broods in the season, and commence nesting very early in
the spring, the time being considerably affected by the amount of food.
In the spring of 1849 an immense number of these birds collected on
Fayston Mountain, near Montpelier, Vt., although at the time of their
coming the weather was very cold and the ground covered with snow.
There they seemed to find a great abundance of food, berries of the
mountain-ash and such other fruit as they could procure, and there they
remained, breeding in great numbers, until late in the summer. They were
still collected in June, although the whole neighborhood was warring
upon them for many miles around, and the markets of Boston and other
places were largely supplied with them.
In the extensive forests of Kentucky, Mr. Audubon found them usually
collecting and breeding in trees of great height, and always at a
convenient distance from water, resorting thither in countless myriads.
Their note, during breeding, is described as a short _coo-coo_, much
briefer than in the domestic Pigeon, while their usual call-note is a
repetition of the monosyllables _kee-kee-kee_, the first note being
louder and the last fainter than the rest. In the love-season the male
puts on the pompous manners peculiar to all Pigeons, and follows the
female with drooping wings and expanded tail, the body being held in
an elevated attitude and the throat swollen. Occasionally they caress
one another in the same manner in which they feed their young, by
introducing the bill of one into that of the other and disgorging the
contents of their crops.
Their nests are composed of a few dry twigs laid crosswise, and built
upon the branches of trees. From fifty to a hundred were seen by Audubon
in the same tree, and were said to be frequently at a considerable
height. The few I have seen were in low trees, and not more than ten
feet from the ground. The eggs are never more than two in number, pure
white, and of a broadly elliptical form. During incubation the male bird
feeds the mate and afterwards assists in supplying the young birds, and
both birds are conspicuous in their demonstrations of affection, both to
each other and to their offspring. The young brood, usually both sexes
in one nest, leave their parents as soon as they are able to shift for
themselves.
In the New England States and in the more cultivated part of the country
these birds no longer breed 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.
The Wild Pigeon has been successfully kept in aviaries, and has
occasionally bred in confinement.
Wilson’s account of the habits of these Pigeons is substantially
corroborative of that of Audubon. He witnessed their migrations in
vast numbers, in various parts of the country,—in Western New York,
in Pennsylvania, in various parts of Virginia, where he beheld their
immense flocks with amazement, but where they were mere straggling
parties compared with the congregated millions he saw in Ohio, Indiana,
and Kentucky. He also noted their habit of frequenting the same
roosting-place night after night, even when they were compelled to fly
sixty or eighty miles each day to their feeding-places. His account
of their roosting-places is similar to that of Audubon, corroborating
the accumulation of the dung covering the surface of the ground and
destroying all the grass and underbrush, the breaking down of large
limbs, and even of small trees, by the weight of the birds clustering
one above another, and the trees themselves at last killed as completely
as if girdled by an axe.
One of the breeding-places visited by Wilson, not far from Shelbyville,
Ky., 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 had 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.
When on his way from Shelbyville to Frankfort, Wilson witnessed an
immense flight of these birds, and was astonished at their appearance.
They were flying with great steadiness and rapidity in several strata
deep and very close together. From right to left, as far as the eye
could reach, this vast procession extended its immense breadth, seeming
everywhere equally crowded. For more than an hour by the watch he stood
and observed this prodigious procession, which, instead of diminishing,
seemed rather to increase both in numbers and rapidity. Three hours
later, as he was entering Frankfort, the living torrent above his head
was as numerous and extended as when first observed. Wilson computed
the number of Pigeons in this flight at over two thousand two hundred
millions.
The most southern point at which this Pigeon is known to breed, as given
by Wilson, was in the Choctaw country, in Mississippi, in latitude 32°.
Mr. Ridgway obtained a single specimen of this species in the West
Humboldt Mountains, in September, 1867. It was a young bird, and had
been feeding on the berries of a species of _Cornus_.
The eggs of the Wild Pigeon vary considerably in length, and also
somewhat in breadth. They average about 1.45 inches in length and 1.05
in breadth. They are white in color, have an oval shape, and are equally
rounded at both ends.