. . in the open field, sometimes on the beachor in the marsh; but they were attracted particularly by hillpastures near the coast. In Massachusetts their food consisted very largely ofterrestrial insects, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and ants;also earthworms. They were among the most useful of birdsin their migrations in the west, as they were very destructiveto the young of the Rocky Mountain locust, formerly thescourge of the plains. Dr. Coues says that while feeding thegreat flocks kept up a conversational chattering, like a fl
. . in the open field, sometimes on the beachor in the marsh; but they were attracted particularly by hillpastures near the coast. In Massachusetts their food consisted very largely ofterrestrial insects, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and ants;also earthworms. They were among the most useful of birdsin their migrations in the west, as they were very destructiveto the young of the Rocky Mountain locust, formerly thescourge of the plains. Dr. Coues says that while feeding thegreat flocks kept up a conversational chattering, like a flockof Blackbirds. In Prince Edward Island they have been seenfollowing the furrow and searching for worms, as they did inthe west.^ In Labrador they gathered to feed on the wild berries,chief of which was the Empetrum nigrum, called curlewberryor gallowberry by the natives, but generally known as thecrowberry. There they also fed on snails; and Mr. Berteaustates that they ate sea lice and infusoria found on sandybeaches. 1 Mackay, George H.: Auk, 1896, p. PLATE XV. —THE LAST PASSENGER PIGEON. The only living specinnen now known to exist. The long, eleganttail feathers have been broken off in the cage. This is afemale in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. (From a photo-graph made and copyrighted by Enno Meyer, Cincinnati,0., 1911.) The immense hosts of the Passenger Pigeon,formerly one of the greatest zoological wonders of the world,are now extinct. SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 433 PASSENGER PIGEON (Edopistes migralorius).Common name: Wild Pigeon. Length. —- to 16 inches. Male. — Eye orange, bare space surrounding it purplish flesh color; head,upper part of neck and chin bright slate blue; throat, breast and sidesreddish and hazel; part of neck and its sides resplendent changeablegold and green metallic lusters; upper parts mainly dull blue; lowerparts reddish or chestnut fading toward tail; back and parts of wingstinged with olive; shoulders and upper wings b
Size: 1325px × 1887px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjobherbe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
