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National Geographic : 1936 Oct
Contents
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE bird is an inhabitant of jungles, where it is seldom or never seen except when caught in snares. It seems truly marvelous that such huge feathers, with their beautiful colorings, can be shed and renewed annually by birds with relatively small bodies. Among the true pheasants, the common pheasant and its varieties are the most widely known. Originally the abundant common pheasant is supposed to have come from the ancient lands of Phasis, on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea; hence its name. It was well known to the Greeks and Romans, and may have been introduced into England during Roman occupation. The pheasant is now one of the most important game birds of the world, as it is widely distributed in Europe and has been established in many localities in the United States. Hundreds of thousands are reared annually in captivity and then released to be hunted, and equally large numbers breed in a state of freedom. In England pheasants are driven by groups of beaters past hunters stationed at strategic points. In America they are hunted with dogs, as are other upland game birds. The rearing of pheasants for pleasure as well as for sale is now widespread and ex tends to many species. In recent years the great eared pheasants of western China, formerly known to few persons, have be come common in captivity. Large aviaries often contain twenty or thirty species of pheasants of remarkable variety and beauty of plumage. The story of the quails that fed the Israelites in danger of starvation in the barren wilds of Sinai is well known to read ers of the Bible. These were the small Old World quail that migrate south in win ter to Africa and then return north into Europe in spring. In passage they are caught in nets by the thousands and shipped to European markets. So many have been taken that it has been necessary to regulate the practice by law. JUNGLE PIGEONS IN WHITE CAPS Before the cooling sweep of the trade wind, my little boat traveled easily across the head of Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic. Terns and pelicans fished in the water, and flocks of screeching parrots passed over the green hills back of the shore. Entering the mouth of the Yuna River, which drains the great valley called the Vega Real, I was soon in a heavily wooded swamp where the shade was a grateful re lief from the intense rays of a tropical sun. A huge sedge, eight or ten feet high with spreading head, grew along the river bank. On either side stretched the dense green jungle with trees hung with vines and para sitic plants. As I walked cautiously over the muddy forest floor, dozens of birds flew out over head with loudly clapping wings and darted away over the trees. These were white crowned pigeons, found here in greater abundance than in any other place I have been. Their guttural cooing came con stantly to my ears, but in spite of their abundance I found it difficult to see them among the dense and heavy leaves. From the balcony of the little hotel in Sanchez, all through the afternoon, as I wrote or cared for specimens, single birds and flocks of these pigeons crossed from the swamps to the wooded hills. At a distance they appeared entirely black until, as they turned, the light caught the white crown cap that gives them their name (Plate XIV). BOTH PARENTS GIVE "PIGEON'S MILK" The group of pigeons and doves (Family Columbidae) has more than eight hundred forms distributed through all the great con tinents and spread widely in the islands of tropical seas. The best-known member of the family is the common pigeon, native originally in the Old World. This species was domesticated many centuries ago and has been carried by the white race through out the world.* Although raised extensively on a com mercial basis, the pigeon, or dove, often ranges in a state of semi-freedom about barns and outbuildings. In every large city, flocks of them have reverted to a wild state, and live and nest about the ledges and towers of buildings, as they do about the rocky cliffs of their native habitat in Europe. As one peculiarity, young pigeons, when first hatched, are fed on a substance called "pigeon's milk," which comes from the crop of both male and female birds. This is an easily digestible, creamy fluid formed by a fatty degeneration of the walls of the crop. * See "Man's Feathered Friends of Longest Standing," by Elisha Hanson, NATIONAL GEO GRAPHIC MAGAZINE, January, 1926 466
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