been exhausted unless it came from some very great distance.
I t never became tame, though I had it in confinement; ft*
about two years, at first alone, and afterwards m company
with other pigeons. It would walk backwards and forwards
in a very shy manner when any one looked at it, and always
avoided the other birds.” Thompson adds : » The-account
Of this individual leads one to believe that i t may have j
crossed the Atlantic.” ^ . .
The fourth example is recorded in a note by Lord .Binning
in Turnbull’s ‘ Birds of East Lothian,’ p. 41 (1867), as'bemg
in the collection of Lord Haddington, who shot it at
Mellerstain in Berwickshire ; adding that a gentleman m
that county was known to have turned out' several Passenger
Pigeons shortly before - this one was'shot; and it was
rather remarkable that nothing was heard of the- others.
A supposed Passenger Pigeon was recorded in ‘ The Field,
September 1:1th, 1869, as having been shot near Melbourne,
in Derbyshire,' but the bird was nbt preserved. The latest
undoubted occurrence is that of an' example shot nearMulgrave j
Castle,*'Yorkshire, by Lord-Harry Phipps,' and examined ia
the flesh on 13th October, 1876^ by Mr, John Hancock, who,
in the ‘NaturalHistory Transactions.of Northumberland and
D u rh am ,^ p. 338, described it'"as follows The quill
feathers in the wings were much worn and broken, and m
the forehead above the bill they are apparently worn off, to
- the skull, as though thebird had beeir trying to-getrout oil
a cage or some other enclosure ;" therefore I cannot eome t»l
any other-conclusion’than that this'specimen, a female/ had
made .its escape from confinement.’’ r
There is no authentic record of-the occurrence! of the
Passenger Pigeon on the Cbntment of Europe ; U even’ onj
-Heligoland,' famed for:'itsVattraotivehess to American stragglers.
As regards, two'at least-of the ‘above examples
obtained in the British'Islands, th e re »® ? to be a ls ta g f
probability that they: were birds'which had acquired, their|
■freedom ; but wifcregSrd to the others, if may bh'borne.in
mind that- this speciesfs capable of long-continued flights J
and. is. known to pass cesrern gr-eat-ex-fanf of country-.with ^
rapidity which Audubon estimated as at' least' a mile a
minute. Passengér Pigeons are frequently 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 and South Carolina, apparently
proving that they had passed over the intervening space
within a few hours. After weighing these facts, it has been
deemed advisable on the whole to retain .this species ip. the
present Edition.
This beautiful Pigeon is found throughout North America
from the Atlantic to the great,Central Plains,vto the west of
which its food supply is limited, and its presence correspondingly
restricted : it has, however, been yÿec^afly obtained on
the Pacific slopes, and in Nevada. -Northwards ;it„ was
observed on the Mackenzie River as high as 65 , whilst .on
the coast of Hudson’s Bay if only reached 58-yéven in warm
summers : as a straggler, however, a young - male bird is
-recorded by Sir James Ross as' having flown on board
the Victory duringstorm, whilst crossing Baffin’s Bay in
latitude 73£ N., on the 31st~.J.uly/Y82%* In the Southern
States it is. of comparatively rare occurrence, but it has bepn
found breeding down to .32° N.rip Mississippi.; as; a straggler
. it has visited Cuba, and, perhaps, the Bermudas»; Considérations
of food, and not of temperature/ mainly influence1'its
migrations, for large columns frequently move northwards
early in March with 20° offro§Ly Graphic accounts of its
migrations, and its immense brooding communities, will be
found in the ornithological works of Audubon, Wilson, and,
for more recent information, the, ‘ History of North American
Birds,’ by Messrs. Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, may.^e consulted.
Its food consists largely of the service-berry \e-
lanchier alnifpUa), acorns and beech-mast, and as soon, as
the supply becomes exhausted, the immense flocks, suddenly
disappear, and do nqt return for a lopg period.
The nest is composed of a-few .dried twigs, laid .crosswise,
and eggs may .(be found by tîfe middléy of March. Jit has
been stated that only one egg is laid, .butsubsequent experience,
has shown that, as with other Pigeons, two is the