378 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



tree was spotted with nests, the remains of those above described. In many instances, I 

 counted upwards of ninety nests on a single tree ; but the pigeons had abandoned this 

 place for another, sixty or eighty miles off, toward Green River, where they were said at 

 that time to be equally numerous. From the great numbers that were constantly passing 

 over our heads to and from that quarter, I had no doubt of the truth of this statement- 

 The mast had been chiefly consumed in Kentucky ; and the jDigeons every morning a 

 little before sunrise set out for the Indiana territorj^, the nearest part of which was about 

 sixty miles distant. Many of these returned before ten o'clock, and the great body 

 generally appeared on theu- return a little after noon. I had left the public road to visit 

 the remains of the breeding-place near Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with 

 my gun on my way to Frankfort, when, about ten o'clock, the pigeons which I had 

 observed flying the greater part of the morning northerly, began to return in such 

 immense numbers as I never before had witnessed. 



" Coming to an opening by the side of a creek called the Benson, where I had a more 

 iminterrupted view, I was astonished at their appearance ; they were flying with great 

 steadiness and rapidity, at a height beyond gun-shot, in several strata deep, and so close 

 together that, 'could shot have reached them, one discharge could not have failed of 

 bringing down several individuals. From right to left, as far as the eye could reach, the 

 breadth of this vast procession extended, seeming everywhere equally crowded. Curious 

 to determine how long this appearance would continue, I took out my watch to note the 

 time, and sat down to observe them. It was then half- past one ; I sat for more than an 

 hour, but instead of a diminution of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather to 

 increase both in numbers and rajDidity ; and anxious to reach Frankfort before night, I 

 rose and went on. About four o'clock in the afternoon I crossed Kentucky river, at the 

 town of Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head seemed as numerous 

 and as extensive as ever. Long after this I observed them in large bodies that continued 

 to pass for six or eight minutes, and these again were followed by other detached bodies, 

 all moving in the same south-east direction till after six in the evening. The great 

 breadth of 'front which this mighty multitude preserved, would seem to intimate a 

 corresponding breadth of their breeding-place, which, by several gentlemen, who had 

 lately passed through part of it, was stated to me at several miles." 



Wilson then enters into a rough calculation of the numbers of this mass, and he comes 

 to the conclusion, that its whole length was 240 miles, and that the numbers composing 

 it amounted to 2,230,272,000 pigeons, observing, that this is probably far below the 

 actual amount. He adds, that allowing each pigeon to consume half a pint of Ibod 

 daily, the whole quantity would equal 17,424,000 bushels daily. Audubon confirms 

 Wilson in every point, excepting that he very properly corrects that part of (he nai'rativo 

 which would lead to the conclusion that a single one only is hatched each time. The 

 latter observes, that the bird lays two eggs of a pui-e white, and that each brood generally 

 consists of a malc^ and female. 



The wonderful account, just given, of the roosting and breeding-places of the Passenger- 

 pigeon is corroborated in every point by Audubon, who, in his delightful work, the 

 "American Ornithological Biography," has added various other particulars connected with 

 its history, which want of space alone prevents us adverting to ; we cannot, however, pass 

 over some of his observations on the mode of flight of these birds. " It is," he remarks, 

 " extremely interesting to see flock after flock performing exactly the same evolutions 

 which had been traced, as it were, in tlie air by a preceding ilock. Tluis, .should a luiwk 

 have charged on a group at a certain spot, the angles, curves, and undulations that have 

 been described by the birds ia their efforts to escape from the dreaded talons of the 

 plunderer, are undeviatingly followed by the next group that comes up. Sliould the 

 bystander happen to witness one of tliesc aft'rays, and, struck witli the rapidity and 



