there is no reason to doubt that C. livia is the predominant ancestral species.

Many individuals of the common dovecot pigeon those of a grayish-blue color with white lower backs and two black wing-bars very closely resemble the wild rock-pigeon. In the wild state the rock-pigeon inhabits the rocky sea coasts and neighboring islands of Europe and North Africa, but is rare inland; though in many places flocks of domestic pigeons have reverted to the feral state and have reacquired most of the characteristics of their wild ancestors. Indeed several of the so-called species found in various parts of Europe, Asia and Egypt are considered by Darwin to have thus originated. Like their domesticated descendants, wild rock-pigeons are gregarious and live in communities among the caves and fissures of inaccessible cliffs, where they associate with cormorants and other sea-birds. In the early morning they fly in flocks to the cultivated districts for the purpose of feeding upon grains and seeds. They also relish snails, insects and fruits. Except when with young, whose needs force them to return to the nesting site more frequently, they remain in the fields throughout the day. These pigeons are little, if at all, migratory, and during the winter congregate in larger flocks which search the farming districts for food. About April a simple nest of grass and twigs is constructed on a rock-ledge and two eggs are laid. After the young are able to leave the nest a second and perhaps a third pair is raised. They are strictly monogamous, and are said to mate for life. In movements, voice and other ordinary habits they resemble the common domestic pigeon.

Rock-pigeons take very kindly to domestication, and they, and perhaps closely related species, have been confined and bred for an immemorable period, not alone because of the very excellent quality of their flesh as food, but also as carriers of messages, and because of the interest attached to the remarkable and numerous varieties to which they give origin. It is, however, probable that pigeons were first domesticated solely for the purpose of supplying the table; at least the earliest known record, more than 3000 B.C., signifies their use for this purpose by the Egyptians. Several hundred distinctive varieties, of which about 150 are named and recognized by fanciers, have been produced under domestication, some of them differing but little, others to a marvelous degree, from the wild stock; many, indeed, are almost monstrous. Concerning the origin of many of the principal types of domestic pigeons, very little is known historically. Some of them, as the carriers or homing-pigeons, are certainly very ancient, and the Romans, who valued pigeons highly, had many races, the pedigrees of which were carefully recorded. Darwin based his conclusion that all this multitude of divergent forms could be traced back to a common ancestry in the rock-pigeon not only on the well-known facts of the ease with which the rock-pigeon can be domesticated, the resemblance in appearance, habits and voice between the common domestic pigeon and the wild rock-dove, and the geographical distribution of the latter, but also upon a most painstaking anatomical study of many varieties and of the facts of breeding and reversion. He noticed that triple crosses between distinct varieties of no matter what

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color were very likely to produce in the third generation a color pattern precisely like that of the wild race. The remarkable persistence of the white wings, which breeders find to be one of the most difficult features to breed out of fancy-colored strains, points to C. livia, of which this feature is a characteristic. Darwin's views have been generally accepted, as has his classification of the numerous varieties. Four principal groups are recognized: (1) The pouters, forming a very distinct race especially characterized by the enormously enlarged inflatable œsophagus and crop; (2) a group in which the beak is generally long (short in the barbs), the skin about the eyes and the base of the beak is rough, swollen and wattled, and the feet are large; in this group are included the various kinds of carriers, dragons, runts and barbs; (3) a group in which the beak is short and the naked skin about the eyes but little developed; Darwin considers this an artificial group and includes in it the fantails, owls and turbits, tumblers, frill-backs and jacobins, each representing a well-marked sub-group; (4) this group includes a great number of races more or less closely resembling the rock-pigeon, from which they have departed much less widely, and are consequently less highly valued by fanciers than the more strikingly modified races of the preceding groups. Among those which Darwin considers as belonging here are the trumpeters, laughers, nuns, spots, swallows and common dovecot pigeons, of which the latter stands nearest to the ancestral type. Next to the pouter the fantail is the most extreme modification, for its tail contains up to 36 or even 42 quill feathers, in place of the 12 originally present.

Concerning the care of pigeons a few general principles may be stated and the novice will avoid many difficulties by recalling the habits of the wild birds and not running counter to nature. In domestication a dovecote or loft is substituted for the rocky caverns of their native isles, but pigeons should have as much freedom as possible, with plenty of fresh air, light, clean food and water, and a clean and roomy shelter from the extremes of weather. Dirty, crowded quarters engender parasites; sour food and lack of air and light cause various diseases; lack of suitable shelter from the weather proves especially fatal to the young birds and nestlings. If possible, pigeons should be given the utmost freedom to fly and return at will; but, if for any reason this is inexpedient, a large flying-cage in the open air should be provided. The gregarious instinct is so strong in pigeons that birds continually desert a small flock in order to join a large one in the same neighborhood. For housing pigeons the loft is preferable to the cot or small house, for very many reasons. It should be a large, airy, well-lighted room, with suitable means for the ingress and egress of the pigeons, and capable of being divided in order to permit of the separation of the different races and sexes when desired. Easily cleaned nesting and roosting boxes may be arranged in shelves on the walls and during the breeding period should be provided with nesting saucers or pans, some clean, soft hay, and kept scrupulously clean. Pigeons do not dust, but are very fond of bathing, for which ample facilities should always be provided. The food best adapted to the hardier is not always

suitable to the more delicate varieties, which require a more dainty diet; but in general crushed Indian corn, wheat, peas and beans are the staples, the legumes especially for breeding birds. If they have no opportunity to fly in search of insects and snails a few of these or of earthworms should be occasionally added. A little salt, an abundance of ground oyster-shells or other calcareous material, gravel and drinking water are required. For the special requirements of the fancy varieties reference must be made to some of the special works on pigeon breeding.

Besides the fancy varieties raised in the United States, great numbers of the common sorts are bred for use at shooting-matches and for table consumption in the form of squabs. Most of the supply comes from the small lofts owned by numerous farmers and stablemen, but in a few places the business has been entered upon on a more extensive scale.

Besides many species known as doves, four species popularly designated as pigeons occur in the United States. Three of these belong to the typical genus Columba, to which the rockpigeon belongs. These are the band-tailed pigeon (C. fasciata) of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific region, with a distinct sub-species in Lower California; the red-billed pigeon (C. flavirostus) from Arizona_southward, and the white-crowned pigeon (C. leucocephala) of Florida and the West Indies. They all differ greatly from the rock-pigeon in habits, being wood-pigeons, which build their nests in trees and bushes, among whose branches they largely live, though they feed upon the ground on acorns, nuts, seeds, etc. They lay two eggs, like most pigeons, and are gregarious, the first especially often collecting in great flocks. From all of these the famous passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is distinguishable at a glance by its long tail composed of 12 slender, tapering feathers. It is a large bird, having a total length of 16 to 18 inches, and, with its graceful form and beautiful metallic tints, is a bird of impressive appearance. This bird has no fixed abode, but wanders widely in great flocks in search of food. Formerly it ranged throughout North America east of the Rocky Mountains and occasionally pushed even to the shores of the Pacific. It was most abundant, however, east of the Great Plains and in temperate regions. At the present time it has practically disappeared from most of this region and is now found in any numbers only in the upper Mississippi Valley and the borderland between the United States and Canada. PASSENGER PIGEON; HOMING PIGEONS, and the names of various groups and species.

See

Consult Darwin, C., Animals and Plants under Domestication' (2 vols., New York 1900); id., Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' (6th ed., New York 1906); Evans, A. H., "Birds," in Cambridge Natural History (Vol. IX, New York 1900); Fulton, R., editor, Wright, L., Illustrated Book of Pigeons (New York 1876); Howard, G. E., The Homing Pigeon' (Washington 1901); MacCleod, A., Pigeon Raising (New York 1913); Mershon, W. B., editor, The Passenger Pigeon (New York 1907); Rice, E. C., 'The (Boston National Standard Squab Book' 1914); Stewart-Baker, 'Indian Pigeons and Doves (London 1913); Tegetmeier, W. B.,

'Pigeons: Their Structure, Varieties, Habits and Management' (London 1868); Twombley, E. G., The Pigeon Standard' (Boston 1900). J. PERCY MOORE,

University of Pennsylvania. PIGEON-BERRY, or INK-BERRY. See

POKEWEED.

PIGEON ENGLISH. See PIDGIN.

PIGEON HAWK, a small falcon (Falco columbarius), distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. There are more than a dozen species scattered over the world, the two most common being the European representatives Hobby and Merlin; they prefer wooded cultivated districts, and usually follow in the train of the small migratory birds on which they prey; the flight is rapid and long sustained; the nest is made on trees or among rocks, and the eggs are from three to five. The American pigeon hawk is 12 to 14 inches long and about 25 in alar extent; the male smaller. The general color is bluish slate, every feather with a longitudinal black line; forehead and throat white; below pale yellowish or reddish white, each feather with a longitudinal line of brownish black; the tibia are light ferruginous, with black lines; quills black, with ashy white tips; tail light bluish ash, tipped with white, with a wide subterminal black band and several narrower bands of the same; cere and legs yellow and bill bluish; the variations in plumage, according to age and locality, are considerable. It is found over all temperate North America, Central and the northern part of South America, and breeds in the north. It is the boldest of any hawk of its size, pouncing on thrushes, wild pigeons, woodpeckers, snipe and even teals, but preying chiefly on birds of the size of the red-winged blackbird and sora rail. It rarely attacks poultry, yet has been known to seize cage-birds hung in the porches of houses even in crowded cities. The nest, placed in some thickly foliaged tree, is coarsely constructed of sticks and mosses, resembling that of a crow; the eggs measure about one and three-fourths by one and one-half inches, and are nearly spherical; the color is not a very clear white, and there are a few bold irregular dashes of light yellowish brown, chiefly about the smaller end.

The pigeon hawk, says Stejneger, is very closely allied to, if not identical with, the European merlin (F. lithofalco); these two forms, with the East Indian turumti (F. chiquera), and its South African race (F. ruficollis), are frequently regarded as a separate genus Esalon. Consult Fisher, A. K., Hawks and Owls of the United States' (Washington 1893).

PIGEON-PEA, the fruit of the leguminous shrub Cajanus indicus, a native of India, but now cultivated in tropical Africa and the West Indies. There are two varieties, distinguished as bicolor and flavus. The former reaches a height of from three to six feet, and has yellow flowers with crimson markings; the latter is larger, sometimes attaining a height of 10 feet, and its flowers are of a uniform yellow color. In India the pigeon-pea forms a pulse of general use. The former variety is called also Angola pea and Kongo pea.

ING.

PIGEON SHOOTING. See TRAP-SHOOT

PIGEON WOODPECKER, the flicker. See WOODPECKER.

PIGEONS, Clay. See TRAP-SHOOTING.

PIGLHEIN, pēg'l-hin, Bruno, German painter: b. Hamburg, 19 Feb. 1848; d. Munich, 15 July 1894. He began his study of painting in the studio of Lippelt in Hamburg. Going to Dresden in 1864 he attached himself to Schilling, with the idea of becoming a sculptor, but in 1870 returned to painting, which he studied under Pauwels in Weimar, and in Munich under W. Diez. The series of decorative works and mythological genres which he soon afterward produced show the influence of Böcklin (q.v.) and Makart. He first became widely known by his 'Moritur in Deo' (the dying Christ supported by an angel), now in the Berlin National Gallery. He then executed a series of drawings in pastel,- busts, heads and halflengths of ladies of fashion, rakes, dandies and children, which appeared at Munich (1884) under the title 'Douze Pastels.' His genre pictures of child life are well known through the reproductions of his illustrations to the idyll 'Kind mit Hund.' In 1885 he undertook a journey to Palestine with the object of collecting materials for a panorama of the Crucifixion,' which he completed with the assistance of several other artists and exhibited in 1886. It was afterward reproduced in wood cuts 1887, but the original was destroyed by fire at Vienna (1892).

PIGMENT (old French), any substance that is used or can be used by painters. The word comes indirectly from the Latin pigmentum, and is related to paint and painting. The Picts of Scotland were so called because they painted themselves. Technically a pigment is a dry substance that can be easily pulverized if it be not already in the form of powder. But the term has been extended so as to include mixed paint ready to be applied.

In biology the word pigment is used in the sense of organic coloring matter; that is organized substances in the tissues of animals and plants giving them color. This coloring matter or pigment is very generally distributed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms, the absence of color in any of them or of their parts being very rare. The darker or lighter color of the skin in different races is due to the presence of more or less heavy pigmentation of the choroid. In many plants and animals the pigment color characterizes the genera, or family. This is especially noticeable in the lower forms of animal and plant life.

A highly spiced wine sweetened with honey
is also called pigment. See COLOR.
PIGMENTS, Animal.
PROTECTIVE.

PIGMY. See PYGMIES.
PIGNUTS. See HICKORY.

See COLORATION,

PIGOT, SIR Robert, British soldier: b. Patshull, Staffordshire, 1720; d. there, 2 Aug. 1796. Entering the army as a boy, he served at Fontenoy, was colonel in 1772, accompanied the 38th foot to Massachusetts, fought at Lexington, 19 April 1775, and 17 June commanded the British left at Bunker Hill, becoming colonel of the regiment in December of the same year and major-general in 1777. He was stationed in Rhode Island in the next year, and VOL 22-6

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in 1782 became lieutenant-general. In 1778 he succeeded his brother as baronet and became part owner of the Pigot diamond, brought by his brother from India; it was raffled for in 1800, the receipts being nearly $120,000 and in 1802 was sold for $150,000 to Ali Pasha, who had it ground to powder in 1822, when he was mortally wounded by Reshid Pasha.

PIGRIS, a Greek poet, brother of Artemisia, queen of Caria (352-350 B.C.). Modern critics assign to him the authorship of the famous mock epic, Barpaxouvoμaxia, The Battle of the Frogs and Mice,' a work formerly accredited to Homer.

PIGWEED. See GOOSEFOOT.

PIKA, a small animal of the higher mountains of the northern hemisphere, representing the family Lagomyida, and closely allied to the hares, of which it seems a degenerate branch. The pikas differ from the hares in their much smaller size, in the nearly equal length of the fore and hind legs, in the short, rounded ears, the very small size or absence of the tail, and in the possession of nearly complete clavicles or collar-bones. In their most southern distribution they inhabit the mountainous districts and highlands, well-known species being numerous on the mountain tops of the European Alps, in the Himalayas and in the Rocky Mountains. They are never seen below timber-line, but are found far above it, in Ladak to the altitude of 16,000 feet. They dwell in underground burrows, or among the loose fallen rocks of a slide or cliff-talus, where large communities occupy favorable places. To this they owe the name "coney," commonly given to Lagomus princeps, the best-known American species, which the Indians called "little chief." The European name, "calling" or "piping" hare, refers to the shrill, piping bark. They feed upon herbage during the summer, and in the early autumn cut and dry a great quantity of this, which they take into their deep burrows as provender for the winter. Their fur is exceedingly warm and close, and was utilized by the American Indians as material for underclothing, infants' garments, etc. About 16 species are known. Consult Blanford, 'Fauna of British India Mammals' (1888); Stone and Cram, 'American Mammals' (1902).

PIKE, Albert, American author and lawyer: b. Boston, Mass., 29 Dec. 1809; d. Washington, D. C., 2 April 1891. He was educated at Harvard, engaged in teaching, in 1831 accompanied an expedition to Santa Fé, afterward exploring the head-waters of the Red and Brazos rivers, and in December 1832 settled at Fort Smith, Ark. He edited the Arkansas Advocate in 1833-36, was admitted to the ba and engaged in law practice. In the Mexican War he commanded a squadron, fought at Buena Vista, received the surrender of Mapimi in 1847, and during the Civil War was Indian commissioner of the Confederate government, and later brigadier-general. After the war he practised in Memphis and in Washington, edited the Memphis Appeal in 1867-68, and engaged in literary work. His 'Hymns to the Gods,' published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1839, gained for him a reputation as a poet, and besides 30 volumes of Masonic works he published 'Prose Sketches and Poems) (1834).

PIKE, Robert, English colonist in America: b. England, 1616; d. Salisbury, Mass., 1706. He came to America in 1625, from 1629 resided on a farm at Salisbury, Mass., and from 1644 until his death held public office in a colony. He is distinguished for his liberal attitude on various questions of colonial interest. Thus, though a believer in witchcraft, he opposed the admission in court of "spectre" testimony; and though a strictly orthodox Puritan, defended the Quakers, and censured the general court for its position in the matter. In these questions he appears as one of the earliest exponents in America of the sentiment toward free speech, criticism, and petition of legislative assemblies, and acquittal in courts of law in default of sufficiently conclusive evidence.

PIKE, Zebulon Montgomery, American soldier and explorer: b. Lamberton, N. J., 5 Feb. 1779; d. York (Toronto), Canada, 27 April 1813. He was the son of an army officer, into whose company he volunteered, serving as a cadet when only 15, and becoming a first lieutenant six years later. In 1805 after the Louisiana Purchase he was ordered to trace the upper course of the Missouri, and with 20 men spent nearly nine months on the dangerous voyage to Red Cedar Lake. Immediately upon his return he was commissioned by General Wilkinson to lead a party through the centre of the Purchase. This expedition was overtaken by winter and the party, while on the banks of what they thought the Red River, was arrested by the Spanish authorities, who later released all members of the expedition. Before his arrest Pike had discovered "Pikes Peak" and had explored the country around Leadville. He arrived at Natchitoches 1 July 1807, was warmly thanked by his superiors, and was rapidly promoted. In 1812 he was stationed on the frontier, and in the next year, having become a brigadier, led the attack on York, Canada. The magazine of the fort exploded during the assault and Pike was killed by a flying stone. The fort surrendered just before he died. Consult Cones, E., Expedition of Zebulon M. Pike to the Headwaters of the Mississippi' (3 vols., New York 1895).

PIKE, a weapon much used in the Middle Ages as an arm for infantry or foot-soldiers. It was from 16 to 18 feet long, and consisted of a pole with an iron point. (See LANCE). Men armed with it were called pike-men. After the invention of guns, pikes gradually fell into disuse, the bayonet in the musket or rifle being more suited to hand-to-hand fighting. The Prussian Landsturm was armed with pikes in 1813, to be used in case no better arms were to he had. The Swiss first substituted the halbert for the pike toward the 15th century. For some time every company in the armies of Europe consisted of at least two-thirds pikemen. In the United States during the John Brown (q.v.) insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Va., Brown's followers were armed with pikes as well as muskets.

PIKE, PICKEREL, fresh-water, ravenous fishes of the family Luciida or Esocida. They are teleostomous fishes, forming, with the mudminnows, cyprinodonts and blind fishes, the order Haplomi. In the pikes the body is lengthened, flattened on the back, and tapers abruptly toward the tail. One dorsal fin exists,

placed far back on the body, and opposite the anal fin. The mouth is very large and lower jaw projects, the biting edge of the upper jaw being formed by the maxillary and premaxillary bones. Teeth are present in plentiful array, and are borne by almost every bone entering into the composition of the mouth as well as small ones upon the tongue. They are very sharp and of various sizes, the larger ones having a hinge-like attachment by means of a ligament, to the bones. The body is clothed with small cycloid scales, or those of a simple rounded variety. There is a single genus (Lucius) with five species, four of which are confined to North America, the fifth being found in Europe and Asia also. The common pike (Lucius lucius) occurs in the rivers of Europe, northern Ásia and North America. Pikes are the tyrants of their sphere, being the most voracious of fresh-water fishes. They feed upon smaller fishes, upon frogs, muskrats, and other animals; and young ducks and other aquatic birds have been known to be dragged below the water and devoured by these fishes. Perches and sunfish are said to escape the pike's attack owing to the presence of their spiny dorsal fins. When fully grown the pike may ordinarily attain a length of four feet, and there are instances on record in which these fishes have exceeded that length.

In America this species ranges from the Ohio River and southern New York to Alaska and Greenland, and is especially abundant in the lakes and rivers of British America. It prefers quiet waters; and remains for long periods suspended perfectly stationary in the water, but, when its prey approaches, darts upon it with the utmost suddenness and the speed of an arrow. Throughout the year, except in the spring when they consort in pairs, the pike leads a solitary life; 100,000 to 500,000 eggs are deposited from April to May, accord-. ing to the latitude. No nest is made, and the non-adhesive eggs sink to the bottom. The muskellonge or muscalonge is a still larger species, often attaining a length of five to eight feet and a weight of 100 pounds or more. It may be quickly distinguished from the pike, with which it is often confused, by the absence of scales from the lower part of the cheeks and the greater number of rays in the fins. It is found in the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water in that general region and northward. Being a pike on a large scale, its habits closely resemble those just described for that species. It prefers the deeper waters, resting among plants near the bottom and is a most formidable enemy of all living creatures inhabiting the

same waters.

The name "pickerel is the diminutive of pike and is employed to designate all of the small species as well as the young of the larger. The species to which this name is especially applied are the banded pickerel (L. americanus), which seldom exceeds 12 inches, and is found in lowland streams of the Atlantic watershed from New England to Florida; the western pickerel (L. vermiculatus), a similar species of the Mississippi Valley; and the common pickerel, pike, or jack (L. reticulatus) of the entire eastern United States. The last named attains a length of two feet and is common everywhere, being especially abundant in clear lakes, where it reaches the largest size.