THE PASSENGER PIGEON 247 



the Passenger Pigeon. It was a species that not 

 only migrated in spring and autumn in countless 

 multitudes, but one that nested in colonies of 

 similar abundance. The vast flocks roamed hither 

 and thither in quest of food, and as the season 

 for reproduction approached they selected some 

 woodland retreat, and commenced to nest. Their 

 roosting-places during the autumn and winter were 

 similarly crowded, and the stirring scenes have 

 taxed the resources of many graphic writers to 

 describe them. Particulars of some of the more 

 recent of these " nestings," as they were called, have 

 been given by Bendire. One was in Michigan in 

 1877 or 1878, near Petosky. This vast breeding 

 colony extended for twenty-eight miles through the 

 forests, — eight miles through hard wood timber, and 

 twenty miles through white pine woods, — every tree 

 of any size throughout that distance containing 

 nests, and many were filled with them. None of the 

 nests were less than fifteen feet from the ground. 

 The birds arrived in this locality to breed in a com- 

 pact mass five miles long by one mile wide ! Com- 

 pared with this, the breeding colonies of all other 

 known birds sink absolutely into insignificance. 

 One billion Passenger Pigeons were said to have 

 been destroyed at this single " nesting " ; this may 



