The Passenger or Wild Pigeon
Chairman, Protection Committee of the American Ornithologists’ Union
DESCRIPTION
Distinguishing Characters,—Size large, length is 15 to 17 inches; tail long and pointed, length, 8.50 inches: resembling in general appearance the Mourning or Carolina Dove, but much larger, and flight said not to be accompanied by a whistling sound.
Adult Male,—Upper parts bluish slate color, middle of the back browner; sides of the head bluish slate-color of the same shade as the crown, chin somewhat paler; no black mark behind the ears; wing-coverts slaty-blue like the rump, the tertials and their coverts browner and with black spots; primaries blackish and externally margined with brownish; central pair of tail-feathers, blackish, all the others white or pearly white at end half, becoming grayer toward the base, where they are marked with black and often chestnut; underparts rich brownish pink, becoming white on the lower abdomen and under tail-coverts; chin, upper throat and sides of the throat bluish slate-color, sides of teh neck like breast but with iridescent reflections spreading to the hindneck; bill black, feet reddish.
Adult Female,—Differs from the male in having the middle of the back, crown and wings brownish (the rump, however, remaining bluish slate), more black marks in the wings, the chin much whiter, the underparts paler, brownish with little or no pinkish tinge, the iridescence at the side of the neck less pronounced, the central pair of tail-feathers browner. the others somewhat grayer.
Young,—Young birds of both sexes resemble in plumage the adult female, but the feathers of the crown, foreback, sides of the breast and sides of the neck, the wing-coverts and tertials are tipped with whitish or brownish, the primaries are broadly edged and tipped with rusty brown, the outer tail-feathers are grayish.
Remarks,—The only other member of the order Columbae for which the Passenger Pigeon could be mistaken is the Mourning or Carolina Dove. The Pigeon, however, is much larger, the adult male is much pinker below, and in both sexes of the Pigeon the rump is bluish slate instead of brownish as in the Dove, while the Pigeon‘s outer tail-feathers are broadly tipped with white and the Dove‘s more narrowly with gray. Further more, the small, black mark present behind the ear in the Dove is wanting in the Pigeon (see Educational Leaflet No. 2, The Mourning Dove).
Alexander Wilson, the “Father of American Ornithology”, estimated that a flock of Wild Pigeons seen by him near Frankfort, Kentucky, about 1808, contained at least 2,230,272,000 individuals. Audubon writes that in 1805 he saw schooners at the wharves in New York City loaded in bulk with Wild Pigeons, caught up the Hudson river, which were sold at one cent each.
The late George N. Lawrence tells of the great flights of Pigeons that annually passed over New York City as late as 1850. He says, "We could see flocks consisting of from twenty-five to over a hundred Pigeons come sweeping down over the tree tops seemingly at a speed of 75 miles an hour. The flocks followed each other in quick succession On the present sight of General Grant’s tomb was an old country seat known as ‘Claremont.’
From the top of this house. during one of these great flights of Pigeons,
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