On the Common Pigeon* 173 



squirrels, and other dependents on the fruits of the forest. I have taken, 

 from the crop of a single Wild Pigeon, a good handful of the kernels of 

 beech nuts, intermixed with acorns annd chestnuts. To form a rough 

 estimate of the daily consumption of one of these immense flocks, let us first 

 attempt to calculate the numbers of that above mentioned, as seen in passing 

 between Frankfort and the Indiana territory : If we suppose this column to 

 have been one mile in breadth, (and I believe it to have been much more,) 

 and that it moved at the rate of one mile in a minute, four hours, the time it 

 continued passing, would make its whole length two hundred and forty miles. 

 Again, supposing that each square yard of this moving body comprehended 

 three Pigeons, the square yard in the whole space, multij)lied by three, 

 would give two thousand two hundred and thirty millions, two hundred and 

 seventy-two thousand Pigeons ! — an almost inconceivable multitude, and yet 

 probably far below the actual amount. Computing each of these to consume 

 half a pint of mast daily, the whole quantity at this rate would equal 

 seventeen milHons four hundred and twenty-four thousand bushels per day ! 

 Heaven has wisely and graciously given to these birds rapidity of flight and 

 a disposition to range over vast uncultivated tracts of the earth, otherwise 

 they must have perished in the districts where they resided, or devoured up 

 the whole productions of agriculture, as well as those of the forests. 



" A few observations on the mode of flight of these birds must not be 

 omitted : the appearance of large detached bodies of them in the air, and the 

 various evolutions they display, are strikingly picturesque and interesting. — 

 In descending the Ohio by myself, in the month of February, I often rested 

 on my oars to contemplete their aerial manceuvi-es. A column, eight or ten 

 miles in length, would appear from Kentucky, high in air, steering across to 

 Indiana. The leaders of this great body would sometimes gradually vary 

 their course, until it formed a large bend, of more than a mile in diameter, 

 those behind tracing the exact route of their predecessors. This would 

 continue sometimes long after both extremities were beyond the reach of 

 sight ; so that the whole, with its glittery undulations, marked a space on 

 the face of the heavens resembling the windings of a vast and majestic river. 

 When this bend became very great, the birds, as if sensible of the unnecessary 

 circuitous course they were taking, suddenly changed their direction, so that 

 what was in column before became an immense front, straightening all its 

 indentures; until it swept the heavens in one vast and infinitely extended 

 line. Other lesser bodies also united with each other as they happened to 

 approach, with such ease and elegance of evolution, forming new figures, and 

 varying these as they united or separated, that I never was tired of contem- 

 plating them. Sometimes a Hawk would make a sweep on a particular 

 part of the column, from a great height, when, almost as quick as lightning, 

 that part shot downwards out of the common track ; but, soon rising again, 

 continued advancing at the same height as before. This inflection was 

 continued by those behind, who, on arriving at this point, dived down, almost 

 perpendicularly, to a great depth, and rising, followed the exact path of those 

 that went before. As these vast bodies passed over the river near me, the 



