2 7 2 COLUMBIDÆ.
RASORES. . , COLUMBIDÆ,
T H E PASSENGER -PIGEON.
Columba migratoria, Passenger Pigeon, F lem. Brit. An. p. 145.
— ^ ” • ;t ■ jjj „ J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 163.
„ ,, Migratory ,, E yton, Rare Brit. Birds, p. 30«.,.
,, Columbe voyageuse, T emm. Suppl. Man. d’Ornith. pt. iv.
pr309.
Ectopistes migratorius, Passenger Turtle, Selby, Nat. Lib. Ornith. vol. v. p.
m .
E ctopistes. Generic Characters.— Bill slender, notched. Wings rather
elongated, pointed ; the first and third quill-feather equal, the second longest,
Tail rounded, or cuneated. Feet short, naked : anterior scales of the "tarsi imbricate
; lateral scales very small, reticulate.
T h i s genus, the characters of which- were first published in
the third volume of 'the '(Zoological Journal, page' 362, was
instituted- by Mr. Swains On, for the reception of-tfie Columba
migrdtoria^ and Columbia ïG^Lfhifwenéïs .of authors, birds
which, Mr. .Selby «Selves in -the'volume quoted* “ though
nearly allied in other characters,.* are distinguished from the
resfeof jfhe- Turtles tby^megÈeaèeri their wings and
tail, those -essential -Organs of motfefi, the extra dbvelopemerit
of which necessarily indichtesf-an UcOnomy'and mode of Mfef
different from that of those’ species ^hëré>^hl^é members are
comparatively short* and differently proportioned#*!-;
This b'eautiliiLPigeon ris* a nativd ji^Nortli Am erica, oveY
nearly the'ivhole of which immênèe"; continents it occasionally
rambles* the country ■4'tf thé wést' dft’the Tlo’cky- Mountains
onlyeXeeptëd. According to Mr. Hutchins, they-abdund in
thè country round Hudsoü’s' Bay,5 where*;they usually remain
as\date\as December, feeding vTem-'lhé' ground is covered
with :s^owr on thei;ibudsM»f juniper. ’ Dr. Richardson -says this
celebrated bird am^es-'-ih the- fhr^trountrifes in-the latténend'
of May,'- and ‘-.departs’! in October. I t annUally, attains the-
sixfey-secbn^dê^eëip^ latitude in the Warmerpsn-tTal districts,
but reaches the fifty-eighth paralletpon the' Cbast of Hudson’s
Bay in very fine summers only. Mr. Hutchins mentions a
flock of fhes'è Pigeons visiting and staying two days 1 at York'
Factory in 1775, as a remarkable occurrence: Wilsqn says
they spread ,byex. the whole; of-Canada were heen By Captain
Lewis arid/hisi companions near the’ great falls of the Missouri,
upwards of two-thousand five hundred miles-from its mouth,
reckoning, the meanderings of the river ; wéte also met with
in the interior of Louisiana by Colonel Pike •; and’-exteud
their range as far south as' the Gulf of Mexico, occasionally
visiting or breeding- in almostr every quarter; o f the United
States.
Captain James Ross, in the Natural History portion of the
von. ii. T