THE PASSENGER PIGEON. [With 1 colored plate.] Accounts by PEHR KALM (1759) and JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (1831). [The former habitat of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) as given by the American Ornithologists' Union check list (third edition, 1910) is as follows: "Bred formerly from middle western Mackenzie, central Keewatin, central Quebec, and Nova Scotia south to Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and New York; wintered principally from Arkansas and North Carolina south to central Texas, Louisiana, and Florida; casual in Cuba, eastern Mexico, and Nevada; now probably extinct." There is one living bird left. This is in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens. The causes of the extermination of this pigeon are chiefly the greed of civilized man. The destruction of forests within its range greatly reduced its natural food supply, and the killing (by netting, shooting, clubbing, etc.) of enormous quantities in the end produced the same effect as with the bison. When these pigeons were still numerous great numbers were used in trap shooting. In a wild state the pigeon became extinct about the year 1900-possibly a few lingered after that date, yet Mershon estimates (p. 92) that a total of 1,000,000,000 were killed in the Michigan "nesting" of 1878.] I. A DESCRIPTION OF THE WILD PIGEONS WHICH VISIT THE SOUTHERN ENGLISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA, DURING CERTAIN YEARS, IN INCREDIBLE MULTITUDES. By PEHR KALM (1759).2 3 In North America there is a species of wild pigeons which, coming from the upper part of the country, visits Pennsylvania and others of the southern English settlements during some years, and in marvelous multitudes. They have, however, already been described and exceedingly well illustrated in lively colors by the two great ornithologists and match 1 Readers wishing to pursue the subject further should consult W. B. Mershon's book, The Passenger Pigeon, 1907, New York, from which the colored plate herewith is reproduced. 2 Translated by S. M. Gronberger from Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, för ar 1759, Vol. 20, Stockholm, 1759. Reprinted by permission from The Auk, Vol. 28, Jan., 1911. * The names given by ornithologists and others to these pigeons are as follows: Columba (macroura) cauda cuneiformi longa, pectore purpurascente. Linn. Syst. X, T. I, p. 164. Columba macroura. The long-tailed dove. Edwards's History of Birds, T. I, p. 15, t. 15. Palumbus migratorius. The pigeon of passage. Catesby's Nat. Hist. of Carolina, Vol. I, p. 23, t. 23. Dufvor, Villa Dufvor [pigeons, wild pigeons], so called by the Swedes in New Sweden. Tourtes, by the French in Canada. less masters of bird drawing, Catesby and Edwards; but as I have had occasion to notice with regard to the description proper and especially as regards the living habits of these pigeons various things which these gentlemen have either left entirely unmentioned, or which at their places of residence they have not been able properly to ascertain, it is my desire to deliver a short account of this subject before the Royal Academy of Sciences, using the notes from my American diary. Although these pigeons have been splendidly illustrated by ornithologists, they have not been able to reproduce their beautiful colors in true accordance with nature, in one respect, at least; the color indicated on either side of the neck should extend much higher up. [Technical descriptions follow in Latin and are here omitted.] The size of these pigeons is about that of a ringdove. The splendid color which the male and the female have on the sides of the neck and even a little beyond it is also peculiar in that the feathers in that region are as if covered with a finely resplendent copper [color], with a purple tint, which back of the neck shifts more into green, particularly with reference to its position toward the light. Rarely is this color more finely reproduced than in this bird. Mr. Catesby calls it a golden color, but it can hardly be termed that. In the copy of Mr. Catesby's work which I have seen both the head and the back are of a darker color, and the breast is also of a redder color than the bird actually has. This I could very well see when I laid a recently killed male beside Mr. Catesby's figure, as it is the male which is reproduced in his work. Mr. Edward [sic] has entirely omitted the above-mentioned copper color both in his description and his figure. It may be that some of the young ones do not have it; but it was found on all those which I have handled, and which were killed in the spring.1 Quite a number of these pigeons may be seen every summer in the woods of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the adjoining provinces, in which region they live and nest; and it is very seldom that a greater number of them are not observed there in the spring, during the months of February and March, than in the other seasons of the year. But there are certain years when they come to Pennsylvania and the southern English provinces in such indescribable multitudes as literally to appall the people. I did not, however, have the opportunity of witnessing such personally (although the spring of the year 1749, when I was there, was considered as one of those in which a greater number of these pigeons appeared than had 1 Edwards's figure represents a distinct species of another genus, namely, the Columba (=Zenaidura) macroura. been the case for some years previously; yet it was not one of the particular or more unusual ones); but all persons who had observed these happenings and lived long enough to remember several of them recited several incidents connected therewith. Some had even made short notes of various details, of which I will cite the following: In the spring of 1740, on the 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 22d of March (old style), but more especially on the 11th, there came from the north an incredible multitude of these pigeons to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Their number, while in flight, extended 3 or 4 English miles in length, and more than 1 such mile in breadth, and they flew so closely together that the sky and the sun were obscured by them, the daylight becoming sensibly diminished by their shadow. The big as well as the little trees in the woods, sometimes covering a distance of 7 English miles, became so filled with them that hardly a twig or a branch could be seen which they did not cover; on the thicker branches they had piled themselves up on one another's backs, quite about a yard high. When they alighted on the trees their weight was so heavy that not only big limbs and branches of the size of a man's thigh were broken straight off, but less firmly rooted trees broke down completely under the load. The ground below the trees where they had spent the night was entirely covered with their dung, which lay in great heaps. As soon as they had devoured the acorns and other seeds which served them as food and which generally lasted only for a day, they moved away to another place. The Swedes and others not only killed a great number with shotguns, but they also slew a great quantity with sticks, without any particular difficulty; especially at night they could have dispatched as many as their strength would have enabled them to accomplish, as the pigeons then made such a noise in the trees that they could not hear whether anything dangerous to them was going on, or whether there were people about. Several of the old men assured me that in the darkness they did not dare to walk beneath the trees where the pigeons were, because all through the night, owing to their numbers and corresponding weight, one thick and heavy branch after another broke asunder and fell down, and this could easily have injured a human being that had ventured below. About a week or a little later subsequent to the disappearance of this enormous multitude of pigeons from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a sea captain by the name of Amies, who had just arrived at Philadelphia, and after him several other seafaring men, stated that they had found localities out at sea where the water, to an extent of over 3 French miles, was entirely covered by dead pigeons of this species. It was conjectured that the pigeons, whether owing to a storm, mist, or snowfall, had been carried away to the sea, and then on account of the darkness of the following night or from fatigue, had alighted on the water and in that place and manner met their fate. It is said that from that date no such tremendous numbers of this species of pigeon have been seen in Pennsylvania. In the beginning of the month of February, about the year 1729, according to the stories told by older men, an equally countless multitude of these pigeons as the one just mentioned, if not a still larger number, arrived in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Even extremely aged men stated that on three, four, five, or several more occasions in their lifetime they had seen such overwhelming multitudes in these places; and even the parents of these people had in their turn told them that the same phenomenon had occurred several times during their own lives; so that 11, 12, or sometimes more years elapse between each such unusual visit of pigeons. From Lawson's History of Carolina (p. 141), I see that in the winter of 1707, which was the severest known in Carolina since it was settled by Europeans, an equally awe-inspiring number of these pigeons had made an appearance in Carolina and the other southern English settlements, driven thither by causes which I will now mention. The learned and observant Dr. Colden told me that during his stay in North America, where he had been since the year 1710, at his country place, Coldingham, situated between New York and Albany, he had on two distinct occasions, although at an interval of several years, witnessed the arrival of these pigeons in such great and unusual numbers that during two or three hours, while they flew by his house, the sky was obscured by them, and that they presented the appearance of a thick cloud. All the old people were of the opinion that the months of February and March is the single season of the year when the pigeons swoop down upon Pennsylvania and the adjacent English provinces in such marvelous quantities; at other seasons of the year they are not to be seen in any great numbers. The cause of their migrations from the upper part of the country in such great quantities at this season is twofold-first, when there is a failure of the crop of acorns and other fruit in the places where they otherwise generally spend the winter, thus rendering their supply of food insufficient to last until the ensuing summer; and, second, and chiefly, when an unusually severe winter with abundant and longremaining snow happens to occur in their customary winter haunts, thus covering the ground and making it impossible for them to secure the acorns, beechnuts, and other fruit and seeds on which they otherwise feed at this season; in such cases they are forced to leave these localities and seek their food down along the seacoast, where the winters, |