662 P I G E O N.
P lace anb
M anners*
throat, hind part of the neck, back, rump, and upper tail coverts,
cinereous : the wing coverts ate the fame, but marked with fome
black fpots : Tides of the neck of a glofiy variable purple colour :
the fore part of the neck and breaft vinaceous: belly, fides,
thighs, and under tail coverts, the fame, but paler : quills black
brown, with whitilh edges: the tail pretty long; the two middle
feathers blackilh brown; the reft hoary: the legs are red; and
the claws black.
This bird inhabits North America, but more efpecially between
20 and 60 degrees of latitude,; palling the fummer in the
northern parts, and retiring to the more fouthern provinces at the
approach of winter. Thefe are called at Moofs Fort and Severn
river, Wood Pigeons. They build in trees; lay two eggs, like
thofe of other Pigeons; and are reckoned^ good eating. One
can fcarce conceive in what prodigious flocks they are leen in
their pafiage from one part to the other; often in firings of two
miles long, and a quarter of a mile in breadth ; and during their
pafling over any place, they quite darken the air. Frequently
alight on trees, and fometimes in fuch immenfe numbers as to
break down pretty ftrong branches. The people at Philadelphia
Ihoot them from the tops of their houfes; and in New England
they are knocked down from their roofts in great numbers,
of evenings; which it is not difficult to do, as they are either
very tame at the time, or much fatigued * y- and the common
people, during flight-time, chiefly fubfift on them. g
The
* They have alfo another way-of catching them in Uuifiana. A party of
five or fix go in the .evening into the woods; and, taking with diem feverai
difhes or other flat veflels,: they fet brim/time on fife m thefe; under fuch tree^as
the birds are fondeftcf roefting on the'fmdke of which fó-fttrptóes them,‘as to
^ oblige
P I G E O N . 663
The chief food of this fpecies is acorns, and maft of all kinds;
but they will alfo deftroy corn and rice, if they come in the way
of them.
Columba Carollnenfis, tin. Syji. i. p. 286. N° 37. -
La Tourterelle 4e la Caroline, Brif. orn., i, p, jiq. N° 18. pi. 8« f. 1 —
PI. enl. 175. (the female f)
La Tourte, Buf. oif. ii. p. 557.
Turtle of Carolina, Catefb. Car, i. gl. 24.
Carolina Pigeon, Ar£l* Zool.
T H I S is a trifle bigger than our Common Turtle: in length
ten inches and a half. The bill is eight lines long, and of a
blackilh colour: the eyes are furrounded with a bare blue ikin :
the irides are black: the forehead, fore part of the neck, and
bread:, incline to reddilh, with a green gold and violet glofs on
the laft: the hind part of the head and neck are of a brownilh
alh-colour: the back, rump, and upper tail and wing coverts
■ neareft the body, the fame, but irregularly mixed with rufous ;
the reft of the wing coverts alh-brown: belly, Tides, thighs, and
under tail coverts, inclining to rufous : on each wing, near the
tip of the greater coverts, are a few black fpots: quills blackilh
alh-colour, with whitilh edges: tail feathers unequal; the
two middle ones are four inches and a half in length; the outer
ones very Ihort; the two middle ones are wholly of alh-coloured
brown ; the next two on each fide are alh-coloured, marked with
black in the middle; and the others are of a light alh-colour,
oblige them to fall to the ground; when no more remains than to fill the fackj
they have brought with them for that purpofe. In this they are often accompanied
by the ladies, who elteem it an agreeable evening's amufement. — Hi/,
des oif.
whitillv
f