264 Mr Audubon on tlw Habits of the Wild Pigeon. 



ers loaded in bulk with pigeons caught up the Hudson river, 

 coming in to the wharf at New York, and those birds sold 

 for a cent a-piece. I knew a man in Pennsylvania, who caught 

 and killed upwards of 500 dozens in a clap-net in a day, 

 sweeping sometimes twenty dozens or more at one haul. 



I have also seen the negroes at the United States Salines, 

 or salt-works of Shawanee Town, wearied with killing pigeons, 

 as they alighted to drink the water issuing from the leading 

 pipes, for weeks at times ; and yet in 1826, in Louisiana, I 

 saw congregated flocks of those birds as numerous as ever I 

 had seen them before, during a residence of nearly thirty 

 years in the United States. 



The greater portion of the time alluded to has been em- 

 ployed in studying, with the greatest care, the particular ha- 

 bits of each feathered individual in North America, with a 

 view to publish at last its complete Ornithology ; — but to return 

 to our more immediate subject. 



The breeding of the wild pigeons, and the places chosen for 

 that purpose, are points of great interest. As I have said be- 

 fore, the time set apart for this is not influenced by climate or 

 season, but generally takes place where and when food is most 

 plentiful and most attainable, and always at a convenient dis- 

 tance from the water, and in high timbered forests. The spot ge- 

 nerally chosen is not, like that above described, a scene of con- 

 fusion and death, but one where, it is no exaggeration to say, 

 the tenderest affection seems ^o prevail. To this place these 

 countless myriads of pigeons fly, and settle to coo, and, with 

 parental care, begin their nests in general peace and harmony. 

 On the same tree, from 50 to 100 nests may be seen, form- 

 ed of slight material?, being only composed of a few dried 

 twigs, crossed in different ways, supported by suitable forks 

 in the branches, from the lowest to the highest, and each mate 

 partakes in the task of incubation. The females lay two white 

 eggs each, proportioned to the size of the bird, and as they 

 sit the greater portion of this precious time, the males feed 

 them from bill to bill, with amorous tenderness and care. 



The young are hatched, and would grow and leave the 

 nest in course of time, did not man discover the place, and 

 commence his work of devastation. Armed with axes, their 



