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the forest must be immense beyond conception. As the period of their arrival approached, their foes anxiously prepared to receive them. Some were furnished with iron pots containing sulphur, others with torches of pine-knots, many with poles, and the rest with guns. The sun was lost to our view, yet not a Pigeon had arrived. Every thing was ready; all eyes were gazing on the clear sky, which appeared in glimpses amidst the tall trees. Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of Here they come!' The noise which they made, though yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea passing through the rigging of a close reefed vessel. As the birds arrived and passed over me, I felt a current of air that surprised me. Thousands were soon knocked down by the pole-men. The birds continued to pour in. The fires were lighted, and a magnificent as well as wonderful and almost terrifying sight presented itself. The Pigeons, arriving by thousands, alighted every where, one above another, until solid masses as large as hogsheads were formed on the branches all around. Here and there the perches gave way under the weight, with a crash, and falling to the ground, destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the dense groups with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak or even to shout to those persons who were nearest to me. Even the reports of the guns were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing the shooters reloading."- "No one dared venture within the line of devastation." The collecting the dead and wounded birds was left for the morning's employment; and till near sunrise this work of slaughter continued. At this period the pigeons began to move off in a direction different to that by which they entered the forest the preceding evening, "and before sunrise all that were able to fly had disappeared. The howlings of the wolves now reached our ears, and the foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, raccoons, opossums, and polecats were seen sneaking off, whilst eagles and hawks of different species, accompanied by a crowd of vultures, came to supplant them and enjoy their share of the spoil." It is not, however, only in their

roosting places that these pigeons are attacked, but in their breeding places also; the young, when just about to leave the nest, being highly esteemed for food. In order to procure these, whole trees are felled, which in their fall strip off the branches, covered with nests, of those adjacent, and so dash the young to the ground. In this manner multitudes are destroyed; yet, wherever mighty woods afford them shelter and subsistence, these flocks not only recruit their losses, but appear even to increase; and Audubon observes that "they not unfrequently quadruple their numbers yearly, and always at least double them.”

The Passenger Pigeon is a beautiful bird. The general colour of the upper parts is grayish blue; the two middle tail-feathers are blackish, the rest blue, fading into white. The throat, breast, and sides light brownish red, burnished with gold, green, and crimson; the remainder of the under surface whitish; length sixteen inches.

The close union which exists in many points between the Pigeons (Columbida) and the insessorial order, has already been hinted at, and the true arboreal habits of the genus Vinago have been noticed as evidently stationing that group among the intervening links through which the transition passes. We shall now see how the Pigeons merge insensibly into the essentially rasorial group, that of the fowls, turkeys, and pheasants, (Phasianidæ, VIG.)

In the Columbidæ may easily be recognised a group provided with strong, coarse, and elevated tarsi, adapted for terrestrial habits, and with short and rounded wings, ill adapted for flight, conjoined with a bulky body. And on inquiring into the habits of these birds, we find them breeding on the ground, and laying several eggs; and that the young, when hatched, are covered with down, instead of being naked, and follow their parents like chickens or young partridges. To this group Le Vaillant gave the expressive name of " Columbi-gallines," that is, Pigeon-fowls. Our first example, though truly terrestrial, and one of the links of transition, still has much of the pigeon in its appearance. It is the NICOBAR Pigeon, (Goura Nicobarica, TEM.) a native of the Moluccas,

and distinguished by its refulgent plumage. The head is dull slate colour, with a tinge of purple; the neck is ornamented with long flowing pointed feathers of a rich green, with coppery reflections; the covert-feathers of the wings

are also pointed; the whole of the upper surface is burnished with bronze and steel blue reflections on glossy green; the under surface is the same, but not quite so intensely brilliant; the tail, which is very short and square, is pure white; the beak is carunculated at the base; its size is that of the common wood-pigeon or ring-dove.

Our last example has so little of the pigeon in its general appearance, that no one would at first conceive it to belong to that family. The limbs are those of a fowl or turkey, so are the wings; the tail is large and spreading, and the head is surmounted by a flat fan-like crest of slender feathers, with loose barbs. In size, too, it equals a moderate turkey, and is reared in Java in a state of domestication. This bird is the CROWNED PIGEON of the Indian Archipelago, (Lophyrus coronatus, VIEILL.) Of this magnificent species several examples have been lately living in the menageries of this country. In its

manners it much resembles our poultry, walking about with firm stately steps, and with its beautiful crest expanded. In India and the islands adjacent it is sometimes kept

tame in the court yards, among other poultry; and Sir G. Staunton, in his "Embassy to China," notices it under the title of the Crown Bird, as being very familiar. Its voice, though plaintive, is loud and sonorous. Its general colour is a deep slate blue, with a patch of marroon and white on the wing. The quills and tail are blackish ash, the latter being paler at its tip.

Having thus sketched out the Columbida to the point at which they unite with the true gallinaceous birds, we shall now take up this latter group, called, from its comprehending the pheasant tribes and their allies the wild jungle-fowls, the family Phasianida (Vig.)

The members of this natural and well-marked group, though differing among each other in minor details, are all bound together by strong ties of affinity. They are all characterized by strength of limb and bulkiness of body, while at the same time the wings are short, rounded, and concave. Though most, perhaps, roost upon trees, all seek their food on the ground; this consists of grain,

seeds, roots, and buds, but insects are not rejected, and in some species they form a considerable and essential portion of the food of the young. Their digestive organs are in strict adaptation to the nature of their diet. A spacious crop first receives the grain, whence after due maceration it is conducted to the gizzard, the walls of which are composed of a strong dense muscle, and lined internally with a thick coriaceous membrane. By the grinding action of the gizzard the food is reduced to a pulp; and in order to facilitate this, the birds swallow small stones, pebbles, and sand; which, indeed, are essential to the thorough grinding of their food, and consequently to the maintenance of health.

The peculiar habit of scratching up the ground with the feet, and of rolling in the dust, and working it in among the feathers, is a circumstance which all have noticed.

As it respects their nidification, most, if not all, build their nests on the ground, and rear a numerous brood, which, on being excluded from the eggs, are covered with down, and follow their parents, who conduct them to their food, which they pick up themselves; hence they less require the fostering care of their parents than birds in general.

There is one circumstance which renders the present family of no ordinary interest; it is, that it furnishes to man the largest proportion, and the most valuable, of the domestic poultry of his courtyard; the pea-fowl, the turkey, the guinea-fowl, the innumerable varieties of the common fowl, are all members of this group. Of their utility as food, nothing need be said; nor of the animation and ornament they impart to the farm-yard, and the precincts of our country houses.

Amongst the subordinate groups into which the family Phasianida is divided, the first which demands our notice is that of the Curassows. The Curassows have been formed into a distinct family, (under the name of Cracidæ,) but apparently upon very slender grounds, as they possess all the essential characters of the family; they do not, however, roost on trees only, but build their nests there, choosing the topmost branches of the tallest. When