Volume 9, Plate XIX / Ornithology (Birds)

Passenger Turtle

Ectopistes migratoria

A North American bird ranging between the twentieth and sixtieth degrees of latitude, associating in flocks of countless myriads whose migrations follow the supply of food rather than the seasons, with long wings and a greatly cuneiform tail giving extraordinary powers of flight. Their roosting and breeding places destroy whole forests; the head is pale bluish-grey, the breast brownish-red, the neck purplish-crimson with green and gold reflections, and the abdomen white.