A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3

Several writers, who have witnessed the occasionally enormous flights of these Pigeons, have given very full and graphic accounts of their immense numbers that seem hardly credible to those who have not seen them. Mr. Audubon relates that in 1813, on his way from Henderson to Louisville, in crossing the barrens near Hardensburg, he observed these birds flying to the southwest in greater numbers than he had ever known before. He attempted to count the different flocks as they successively passed, but after counting one hundred and sixty-three in twenty-one minutes he gave it up as impracticable. As he journeyed on, their numbers seemed to increase. The air seemed filled with Pigeons, and the light of noonday to be obscured as by an eclipse. Not a single bird alighted, as the woods were destitute of mast, and all flew so high that he failed to reach any with a rifle. He speaks of their aerial evolutions as beautiful in the extreme, especially when a Hawk pressed upon the rear of a flock. All at once, like a torrent, and with a noise like that of thunder, they rushed together into a compact mass, and darted forward in undulating lines, descending and sweeping near the earth with marvellous velocity, then mounting almost perpendicularly in a vast column, wheeling and twisting so that their continued lines seemed to resemble the coils of a gigantic serpent. During the whole of his journey from Hardensburg to Louisville, fifty-five miles, they continued to pass in undiminished numbers, and also did so during the three following days. At times they flew so low that multitudes were destroyed, and for many days the entire population seemed to eat nothing else but Pigeons.

When a flight of Pigeons discovers an abundant supply of food, sufficient to induce them to alight, they are said to pass around in circles over the place, making various evolutions, after a while passing lower over the woods, and at length alighting; then, as if suddenly alarmed, taking to flight, only to return immediately. These manœuvres are repeated with various indications of indecision in their movements, or as if apprehensive of unseen dangers. During these manœuvres the flapping of their many thousand wings causes a reverberation suggestive of distant thunder. When at last settled upon the ground, they industriously search among the fallen leaves for the acorns and the beech-mast, the rear flocks continually rising, passing over the main body, and realighting. These changes are so frequent that at times the whole collection appears to be in motion. A large extent of ground is thus cleared in a surprisingly short space of time, and cleared with a completeness that is described as incredible. They are usually satiated by the middle of the day, and ascend to the trees to rest and digest their food. On these occasions the Pigeons are destroyed in immense numbers, and their abundance in large extents of the country has been very sensibly reduced.

In its movements on the ground, as also when alighted on the branches of trees, the Wild Pigeon is remarkable for its ease and grace. It walks on the ground and also on the limbs of trees with an easy, graceful motion, frequently jerking its tail and moving its neck backward and forward.

Mr. Audubon states that in Kentucky he has repeatedly visited one of the remarkable roosting-places to which these birds resort at night. This one was on the banks of Green River, and to this place the birds came every night at sunset, arriving from all directions, some of them from the distance of several hundred miles, as was conjectured from certain observations. This roost was in a portion of the forest where the trees were of great magnitude. It was more than forty miles in length, and averaged three in breadth. It had been occupied as a roost about a fortnight when he visited it. Their dung was several inches deep on the ground, covering the whole extent of the roosting-place. Many trees, two feet in diameter, had been broken down by their weight, as well as many branches of the largest and tallest trees. The forest seemed as if it had been swept by a tornado. Everything gave evidence that the number of birds resorting to that part of the forest must be immense. A large number of persons collected before sunset to destroy them, provided with torches of pine-knots, and armed with long poles and guns. The Pigeons began to collect after sunset, their approach preceded, even when they were at a distance, by a noise like that of a hard gale at sea sounding in the rigging of a vessel. As the birds passed over him, they created a strong current of air. The birds arrived by thousands, fires were lighted, and the work of destruction commenced. Many were knocked down by the pole-men. In many cases they collected in such solid masses on the branches that several of their perches gave way and fell to the ground, in this way destroying hundreds of the birds beneath them. It was a scene of great confusion and continued until past midnight, the Pigeons still continuing to arrive. The sound made by the birds at the roost could be heard at the distance of three miles. As day approached, the noise in some measure subsided; and long before objects were distinguishable the Pigeons began to move off, and before daylight all that were able to fly had disappeared. The dead and wounded birds were then collected and piled into heaps by those who had assembled for the purpose.

Though for the most part living, moving, and feeding together in large companies, the Wild Pigeon mates in pairs for purposes of breeding. They have several broods in the season, and commence nesting very early in the spring, the time being considerably affected by the amount of food. In the spring of 1849 an immense number of these birds collected on Fayston Mountain, near Montpelier, Vt., although at the time of their coming the weather was very cold and the ground covered with snow. There they seemed to find a great abundance of food, berries of the mountain-ash and such other fruit as they could procure, and there they remained, breeding in great numbers, until late in the summer. They were still collected in June, although the whole neighborhood was warring upon them for many miles around, and the markets of Boston and other places were largely supplied with them.

In the extensive forests of Kentucky, Mr. Audubon found them usually collecting and breeding in trees of great height, and always at a convenient distance from water, resorting thither in countless myriads. Their note, during breeding, is described as a short coo-coo, much briefer than in the domestic Pigeon, while their usual call-note is a repetition of the monosyllables kee-kee-kee, the first note being louder and the last fainter than the rest. In the love-season the male puts on the pompous manners peculiar to all Pigeons, and follows the female with drooping wings and expanded tail, the body being held in an elevated attitude and the throat swollen. Occasionally they caress one another in the same manner in which they feed their young, by introducing the bill of one into that of the other and disgorging the contents of their crops.

Their nests are composed of a few dry twigs laid crosswise, and built upon the branches of trees. From fifty to a hundred were seen by Audubon in the same tree, and were said to be frequently at a considerable height. The few I have seen were in low trees, and not more than ten feet from the ground. The eggs are never more than two in number, pure white, and of a broadly elliptical form. During incubation the male bird feeds the mate and afterwards assists in supplying the young birds, and both birds are conspicuous in their demonstrations of affection, both to each other and to their offspring. The young brood, usually both sexes in one nest, leave their parents as soon as they are able to shift for themselves.

In the New England States and in the more cultivated part of the country these birds no longer breed in large communities. The instance near Montpelier, in 1849, is the only marked exception that has come within my knowledge. They now breed in isolated pairs, their nests being scattered through the woods and seldom near one another.

The Wild Pigeon has been successfully kept in aviaries, and has occasionally bred in confinement.

Wilson’s account of the habits of these Pigeons is substantially corroborative of that of Audubon. He witnessed their migrations in vast numbers, in various parts of the country,—in Western New York, in Pennsylvania, in various parts of Virginia, where he beheld their immense flocks with amazement, but where they were mere straggling parties compared with the congregated millions he saw in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. He also noted their habit of frequenting the same roosting-place night after night, even when they were compelled to fly sixty or eighty miles each day to their feeding-places. His account of their roosting-places is similar to that of Audubon, corroborating the accumulation of the dung covering the surface of the ground and destroying all the grass and underbrush, the breaking down of large limbs, and even of small trees, by the weight of the birds clustering one above another, and the trees themselves at last killed as completely as if girdled by an axe.

One of the breeding-places visited by Wilson, not far from Shelbyville, Ky., stretched through the forest in nearly a north and south direction. This was several miles in breadth, and upwards of forty miles in extent. In this immense tract nearly every tree was furnished with nests wherever there were branches to accommodate them. He was informed by those who had sought to plunder the nests of the squabs, that the noise in the woods was so great as to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult for one person to hear another speak. The ground was strewed with broken limbs, eggs, and young Pigeons. Hawks were sailing about in great numbers, while from twenty feet upwards to the tops of the trees there was a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multitudes of Pigeons, their wings resounding like thunder, and mingled with the frequent crash of falling trees. In one instance he counted ninety nests in a single tree.

When on his way from Shelbyville to Frankfort, Wilson witnessed an immense flight of these birds, and was astonished at their appearance. They were flying with great steadiness and rapidity in several strata deep and very close together. From right to left, as far as the eye could reach, this vast procession extended its immense breadth, seeming everywhere equally crowded. For more than an hour by the watch he stood and observed this prodigious procession, which, instead of diminishing, seemed rather to increase both in numbers and rapidity. Three hours later, as he was entering Frankfort, the living torrent above his head was as numerous and extended as when first observed. Wilson computed the number of Pigeons in this flight at over two thousand two hundred millions.

The most southern point at which this Pigeon is known to breed, as given by Wilson, was in the Choctaw country, in Mississippi, in latitude 32°.

Mr. Ridgway obtained a single specimen of this species in the West Humboldt Mountains, in September, 1867. It was a young bird, and had been feeding on the berries of a species of Cornus.

The eggs of the Wild Pigeon vary considerably in length, and also somewhat in breadth. They average about 1.45 inches in length and 1.05 in breadth. They are white in color, have an oval shape, and are equally rounded at both ends.

Subfamily ZENAIDINÆ

Char. Tarsi stout, lengthened; always longer than the lateral toes, and entirely without feathers; the tibial joint usually denuded. Tarsus sometimes with hexagonal scales anteriorly. Tail-feathers sometimes fourteen.

This subfamily is readily distinguished from the preceding by the longer and more denuded tarsi, the feet being much better fitted for a terrestrial life. The following sections belong to it:—

Zenaideæ. Size moderate. Wings lengthened, acute, the primaries much longer than the secondaries. Tarsus scutellate anteriorly. A blackish spot beneath the auriculars; tail-feathers tipped with white, and with a blackish subterminal bar. Sides of the neck with a metallic gloss.

Bill lengthened, much depressed. A white patch on the wing; no black spots on the scapulars; plumage ashy, lighter beneath. Tail of twelve feathers, rounded … Melopelia.

Bill smaller, more compressed. No white patch on the wing; scapulars with black spots. Above olivaceous, beneath vinaceous.

Tail of twelve feathers rounded … Zenaida.

Tail of fourteen feathers, graduated or cuneate … Zenaidura.

Chamæpelieæ. Size very small. Wings rounded, the primaries scarcely longer than the tertials. Tarsus scutellate anteriorly. No blackish spot beneath the auriculars; no metallic gloss on sides of the neck.

Tail of twelve feathers, lengthened (much longer than wings), doubly rounded, the lateral feathers much shorter; the three outer pairs with white terminally … Scardafella.

Tail of twelve feathers, short (much less than wings), simply rounded, the lateral feathers only slightly shorter; outer feathers without white terminally, or with only a slight edging. Wing-coverts with oblique black spots, and body without transverse blackish bars.

Outside of the tarsus with a narrow feathered strip; lining of the wing blackish … Talpacota.

Outside of the tarsus without a feathered strip; lining of the wing wholly rufous … Chamæpelia.

Starnœnadeæ. Size moderate (generally a little larger than Zenaida); form robust, or quail-like. Legs very stout; tarsi decidedly longer than the middle toe, variously scaled anteriorly. Wings short, very broad, and much rounded, but the primaries decidedly longer than the secondaries.

Legs very stout; tarsi covered with hexagonal scales; crown blue; a black gular patch, bordered below by white … Starnœnas.

Legs moderate; tarsi covered anteriorly with transverse scutellæ. Crown never blue, and throat without black or white markings … Geotrygon.

The genera characterized above are all more or less nearly related to others belonging to South America, and many of these apparently form connecting links between the several North American ones. Thus, “Columbina” picui, Gray (of Chili), and C. strepitans (of Paraguay), are almost exactly intermediate between Scardafella and Chamæpelia, both in form and colors. “Leptoptila” is in reality scarcely more than a very large Chamæpelia with an approach to Zenaida in more lengthened primaries, and to Geotrygon in the lengthened tarsus.

“Peristera” cinerea is again a slightly enlarged reproduction of Chamæpelia, with the same pattern of coloration, but without rufous on the inside of the wing.

Starnœnas and Geotrygon are nearly connected by the G. chiriquensis, which agrees with the genus to which it is referred in the scutellate tarsi, and with Starnœnas in the peculiar structure of the feathers of the neck, which have, as in that “genus,” a stiff, compact structure, and rather raylike arrangement.

Genus MELOPELIA, Bonap

Melopelia, Bonap. Consp. II, Dec. 1854, 81. (Type, Columba leucoptera, L.)

Gen. Char. Similar to Zenaida; the orbital region and lore more naked; the bill longer; the middle toe longer; the hinder shorter. Tarsal scutellæ in a single series anteriorly. First quill nearly as long as the second and third. A large white patch on wing-coverts, lower parts light ashy.

This genus, like nearly all the North American ones, is represented by but a single species in the United States.

Melopelia leucoptera, (Linn.) BonapWHITE-WINGED DOVE

Columba leucoptera, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 164 (Jamaica).—Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 773.—Wagl. Syst. Av. 1827, Columba, No. 71.—McCall, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. IV, 1848, 64. Zenaida leucoptera, Gray, Gen. B. Turtur leucopterus, Gosse, B. Jam. 1847, 304. Melopelia leucoptera, Bonap. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 81.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 603.—Reichenb. Handb. Taub. 22, tab. 254, f. 1417; 255, f. 2869.—March, P. A. N. S. 1863, 302.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 515. ? Columba hoilotl, Gm. S. N. I, 1788, 777. Columba trudeaui, Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 352, pl. ccccxcvi.

Sp. Char. General color fine ashy, with an olivaceous cast on upper surface, the middle tail-feathers being decidedly brownish; secondaries and primaries blackish. Beneath paler ashy, with a light drab cast anteriorly (lightest on the throat), the abdomen and sides with a fine light-bluish cast; anal region white, crissum more bluish. Occiput with a purplish tinge. A spot of black, with steel-blue reflection below the ears; a large patch of white on the wing, covering the lower coverts from the elbow to the secondaries; secondaries margined terminally with white. Terminal fourth of tail-feathers, except the two medial, ashy-white, preceded by a subterminal blackish band. Male with faint purplish-golden reflections on the sides of the neck, and the throat and jugulum inclining to ochrey-vinaceous; the occiput and nape decided purplish. Female with this scarcely apparent. Male: wing, 6.80; tail, 5.10; culmen, .84; tarsus, 1.06; middle toe, 1.10. Female slightly smaller.

13010 ♂ ½ ½

Melopelia leucoptera, Bonap.

Hab. Southern border of United States, from Texas to Arizona and Lower California; Mexico, south to Costa Rica, Cuba and Jamaica, Oaxaca, highlands (Scl. 1858, 305); Cordova (1856, 309); Jamaica (Gosse, B. J. 304); Honduras (Taylor, Ibis, II, 227); City of Mexico (Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, 178); Southeastern Texas, breeding (Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 24); Cuba (Gundl. Rep. I, 1866, 301); Fort Whipple, Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 93); Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 139); Yucatan (Lawr. IX, 207).

However remarkable and exceptional the distribution of this species may appear in occurring in Cuba and Jamaica and in Mexico, from the Atlantic coast to Cape St. Lucas, and north to Santa Fé, New Mexico, we have yet been unable to find any tangible differences in specimens from these extreme localities. The Jamaica bird has rather a more decided wash of brown on the neck and forehead, the toes apparently shorter; but as specimens from the same locality vary in this respect, it is probable that in a large series such differences will disappear in the average.

Melopelia leucoptera.

Habits. This species is found on the Lower Rio Grande, in Arizona, and, according to Dr. Cooper, in California. It also occurs in Mexico, and was taken in Tamaulipas by Lieutenant Couch, March, 1858. It has also been met with in several of the West India Islands and in Central America.

This species is abundant in Jamaica, where, according to Mr. March, it is more a lowland than a mountain Dove. They are said to be gregarious, usually keeping in flocks of from ten to twenty, but in January and in February, in the Guinea-corn season, and at other times when the Cerei are in fruit, they congregate in large flocks, often of several hundreds. Their food is principally grain and seeds, but they are equally fond of the ripe fruit of the different species of Cereus abounding on the savannas and salines during the summer. Inland, the White-wings, in the same manner as the Baldpate, breed in solitary pairs; but in the mangrove swamps, and in the islands along the coast, they breed in company, many in the same tree. The nest is a frail platform of sticks, with a slight hollow lined with leaves and bark, and sometimes a few feathers. The eggs are two, of an oblong-oval shape, glarish-white in color, measuring 1.31 inches in length by .94 of an inch in breadth. Mr. March adds that the White-wing is often kept in confinement, where it occasionally breeds. It is at first quite wild, fluttering in alarm at the approach of any person, but afterwards becomes quite docile if attended with care. It has been known to cross and mate with the Turtur risorius, a bird which has been introduced into Jamaica. Mr. March had, at the time his paper appeared, a male White-wing mated with a female Ringdove.

This species was found at Omoa, Honduras, by Mr. Leyland, and by Mr. Salvin about Dueñas, Guatemala, where it was one of the common Doves. It was found on the ground, in the open savannas.

Mr. G. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1860) found this bird abundant in Central America, especially on the Pacific coast and in the environs of Comayagua. He adds that he found this species most plentiful in the vicinity of houses and cornfields, while the Z. carolinensis seem to prefer the woods and open plains. Both were easily shot, and were found to be excellent eating.

Mr. Dresser found this species very common near Matamoras and Brownsville, and as far into the interior of Texas as Sal Colorado, after which it becomes rare, and he never saw any farther east or north than the Rio Nueces. It is not uncommon at Eagle Pass, where he saw many in cages in the huts of the Mexicans. Their stomachs were found to contain maize and caterpillars.

Mr. Xantus, in his notes upon the birds of Cape St. Lucas, mentions finding several of the nests and eggs of this Dove. All the nests mentioned contained two eggs. One was in the fork of a leafless tree, about ten feet from the ground; another was about six feet high and placed on a small dwarf-oak; and a third, found May 20, was in a thorn-bush, about ten feet from the ground. In one instance a single egg, already incubated, was found on the top of a large cactus trunk, but without any indication of a nest.

The eggs of this species are oval in shape, white, of equal size at either end, and measure 1.35 inches by .92.

Genus ZENAIDA, Bonap

Zenaida, Bonaparte, Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Columba zenaida, Bp.)

Gen. Char. Bill black; the culmen about two fifths the rest of the head. Tarsi a little shorter than the middle toe and claw, but considerably longer than the lateral toes. Tarsus with broad scutellæ anteriorly, those on the lower half bifid, making two hexagonal series. Inner lateral toe a little the longer. Hind toe and claw as long as the inner lateral without claw. Wings lengthened; second and third quills longest. Tail short, about two fifths the wings, rounded or a little graduated. Orbits feathered, especially anterior to the eye; the lids bare.

But one species of this genus belongs to our fauna, and this is probably but an occasional visitor.

Zenaida amabilis, BonapZENAIDA DOVE

Columba zenaida, Bonap. J. A. N. Sc. V, 1825, 30.—Ib. Am. Orn. II, 1828, pl. xv.—Wagler, Isis, 1829, 744.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 625.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 354; V, 558, pl. clxii.—Ib. Birds Am. V, 1842, 1, pl. cclxxxi. Zenaida amabilis, Bon. List, 1838.—Ib. Consp. II, 1854, 82.—Gosse, Birds Jam. 1847, 307.—Reichenbach, Icones Av. “tab. 255.”—Gundlach, Cabanis’s Journ. 1856, 111.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 602.—Reich. Handb. Taub. 21, tab. 255, f. 2867, 2868; 254, f. 1412.—March, P. A. N. S. 1863, 352. Zenaida aurita, Gray, not Columba aurita of Lichtenstein (Z. maculata), nor of Temminck (Z. martinicana), fide Bonaparte.

Sp. Char. Wings very long, reaching to the terminal third of the tail. Above reddish-olive, variously glossed with gray; the top of the head and the under parts violet-purplish red, paler on the chin and throat. Inside of wings, and sides of body, blue; greater wing-coverts tinged with the same. Quills dark brown; the secondaries tipped with white. Inner tail-feathers like the back; the others blue above; all with a subterminal bar of black, beyond which the blue is lighter, assuming a whitish tint on the exterior feathers. Wing-coverts with concealed spots of black, which are more visible on the tertials; a spot of the same below the ear. Bill black. Feet yellowish. Length, 10.00; wing, 6.00; tail, 4.00.

94 ♂ ½ ½