PASSENGER PIGEON. 631 



time, or have sped at the rate of a mile in a minute. 

 With a velocity like this, our Pigeon might visit the shores 

 of Europe in less than three days ; and in fact, according 

 to Fleming, a straggler was actually shot in Scotland 

 in the winter of 1825. Associated with this rapidity of 

 flight, must also be the extent and acuteness of their vis- 

 ion, or otherwise the object of their motions would be nuga- 

 tory ; so that, while thus darting over the country almost 

 with the velocity of thought, they still keep up a strict 

 survey for their fare ; and, in passing over a sterile region, 

 sail high in the air with a widely extended front, but in- 

 stantly drop their flight, at the prospect of food, flying 

 low, till they alight near an ample supply. 



The associated numbers of Wild Pigeons, the numerous 

 flocks which compose the general swarm, are without any 

 other parallel in the history of the feathered race ; they can 

 indeed alone be compared to the finny shoals of herrings, 

 which, descending from the arctic reo-ions, discolor and 

 fill the ocean to the extent of mighty kingdoms. Of their 

 amazing numbers, and the circumstances attendant on 

 it, the reader will do well to consult the indefatigable Wil- 

 son and the celebrated Audubon. Our limits, and more 

 bounded personal information, v/ill not allow us to enlarge 

 on this curious and extraordinary subject. To talk of 

 hundreds of millions of individuals of the same species 

 habitually associated in feeding, roosting, and breeding, 

 without any regard to climate or season, as an operating 

 cause in these gregarious movements, would at first ap- 

 pear to be wholly incredible, if not borne out by the num- 

 erous testimony of all the inhabitants of the neighbouring 

 districts. The approach of the mighty feathered army 

 with a loud rushing roar, and a stirring breeze, attended 

 by a sudden darkness, might be mistaken for a fearful tor- 

 nado about to overwhelm the face of nature. For several 



