260 Mr Audubon on tlbe Habits of 



meiit ; and when high were seen wheeling and twisting within 

 their continued lines, resembling the coils of a gigantic serpent. 



Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardens- 

 burgh fifty-five miles, where the pigeons were still passing, and 

 this continued for three days in succession. 



The people were indeed all up in arms, and shooting on all 

 sides at the passing flocks. The banks of the river were crowd- 

 ed with men and children, for here the pigeons flew rather low 

 as they passed the Ohio. This gave a fair opportunity to de- 

 stroy them in great numbers. For a week or more the popu- 

 lation spoke of nothing but pigeons, and fed on no other flesh 

 but that of pigeons. The whole atmosphere during this time 

 was strongly impregnated with the smell appertaining to their 

 species. 



It is extremely curious to see flocks after flocks follow exact- 

 ly the very evolutions performed by a preceding one, when they 

 arrived at the place where these manoeuvres were displayed. 

 If a hawk, for instance, has chanced to charge on a portion at 

 a certain spot, no matter what the zigzags, curved lines, or un- 

 dulations of lines might have been during the affray, all the 

 following birds always keep the same track ; so that if the tra- 

 veller happens to see one of those attacks, and feels a wish to 

 have it repeated, he may do so by waiting for a short time. 



It may not, perhaps, be out of place to attempt an estimate 

 of the number of pigeons contained in one of those mighty flocks, 

 and the quantity of food daily consumed by its members. The 

 inquiry will show the astonishing bounty of the Creator in his 

 works, and how universally this bounty has been granted to 

 every living thing on that vast continent of America. 



We shall take, for example, a column of one mile in breadth, 

 which is far below the average size, and suppose it passing over 

 us without interruption for three hours, at the rate mentioned 

 above, of one mile per minute. This will give us a parallelogram 

 of 180 miles by 1, covering 180 square miles, and allowing two 

 pigeons to the square yard, we have one billion one hundred 

 and fifteen millions one hundred and thirty-six thousand 

 pigeons in one flock ; and as every pigeon consumes fully half a 

 pint of food per day, the quantity must be eight millions seven 



