318 GREAT HORNED OWL.
Length 23 inches ; extent of wings 56; bill along the ridge %; tufts
on the head 3.
Adult Female. Plate LXVI. Fig. 2.
The female is considerably larger than the male, and is duller and
lighter in colouring, although the distribution of the tints is similar. The
white of the chin is less pure, and the broad band of the same colour on
the fore neck is wanting.
( 319 )
T H E P A S S E N G E R PIGEON.
COLUMDA MIGRATORIA, LINN.
P L A T E L X I I . MALE A N D F E M A L E .
T H E Passenger Pigeon, or, as it is usually named in America, the
Wild Pigeon, moves with extreme rapidity, propelling itself by quickly
repeated flaps of the wings, which it brings more or less near to the body,
according to the degree of velocity which is required. Like the Domestic
Pigeon, it often flies, during the love season, in a circling manner, supporting
itself with both wings angularly elevated, in which position it
keeps them until it is about to alight. Now and then, during these circular
flights, the tips of the primary quills of each wing are made to strike
against each other, producing a smart rap, which may be heard at a distance
of thirty or forty yards. Before alighting, the Wild Pigeon, like
the Carolina Parrot and a few other species of birds, breaks the force of
its flight by repeated flappings, as if apprehensive of receiving injury
from coming too suddenly into contact with the branch or the spot of
ground on which it intends to settle.
I have commenced my description of this species with the above account
of its flight, because the most important facts connected with its
habits relate to its migrations. These are entirely owing to the necessity
of procuring food, and are not performed with the view of escaping the
severity of a northern latitude, or of seeking a southern one for the purpose
of breeding. They consequently do not take place at any fixed
period or season of the year. Indeed, it sometimes happens that a continuance
of a sufficient supply of food in one district will keep these birds
absent from another for years. I know, at least, to a certainty, that in
Kentucky they remained for several years constantly, and were nowhere
else to be found. They all suddenly disappeared one season when the
mast was exhausted, and did not return for a long period. Similar facts
have been observed in other States.
Their great power of flight enables them to survey and pass over an
astonishing extent of country in a very short time. This is proved by
facts well known in America. Thus, Pigeons have been killed in the
neighbourhood of New York, with their crops full of rice, which they