172 On the Common Pigeon, 



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 every where equally crowded. Curious to determine how long thia 

 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 rapidity ; and, anxious to reach 

 Frankfort before night, I rose and went on. About four o'clock in the 

 afternoon I crossed the Kentucky Eiver, 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 even- 

 ing. 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. It was said to be in Green county, and that 

 the young began to fly about the middle of March. On the 17th of April, 

 forty-nine miles beyond Danville, and not far from Green River, I crossed 

 this same breeding place, where the nests for more than three miles, spotted 

 every tree : the leaves not being yet out, I had a fair prospect of them, and 

 was really astonished at their numbers. A few bodies of Pigeons lingered 

 yet in different parts of the woods, the roaring of whose wings was heard in 

 various quarters around me. 



" All accounts agi-ee in stating, that each nest contains only one young 

 Squab. These are so extremely fat, that the Indians, and many of the 

 whites, are accustomed to melt down the fat for domestic purposes, as a 

 substitute for butter and lard. At the time they leave the nest, they are 

 nearly as heavy as the old ones ; but become much leaner after they are 

 turned out to shift for themselves. * 



" It is universally asserted, in the western countries, that the Pigeons, 

 though they have only one young at a time, breed thrice, and sometimes four 

 times, in the season : the circumstances already mentioned render this highly 

 probable. It is also worthy of observation, that this takes place during that 

 period when acorns, beech nuts, &c. are scattered about in the greatest 

 abundance, and mellowed by the frost. But they are not confined to these 

 alone, — buckwheat, herapseed, Indian corn, holly-berries, hack-berries, 

 huckleberries, and many others, furnish them with abundance at almost all 

 seasons. The acorns of the live oak are also eagerly sought after by these 

 birds, and rice has been frequently found in individuals killed many hundred 

 miles to the northward of the nearest rice plantation. The vast quantity of 

 mast which these multitudes consume is a serious loss to the bears, pigs, 



* Wilson was mistaken in supposing that the Pigeon rears but one at a time. 

 The eggs are two, and each brood consists generally of a male and female. The 

 female sits 15 days, and tbe young leave the nest in 8 days after they are batched. 

 There are three or four broods in a year, between May and September. 



