174 Oil the Common Tlgcon, 



surface of the water, wliicli was before smooth as glass, appeared marked 

 with inmmierable dimples, occasioned by the dropping* of their dung, resem- 

 bling the commencement of a shower of large drops of rain or hail. 



" Happening to go ashore, one charming afternoon, to purchase some 

 milk at a house that stood near the river, and while talking with the people 

 within doors, I was suddenly struck with astonishment at a loud rushing 

 roar, succeeded by instant darkness, which, on the first moment, I took for a 

 tornado, about to overwhelm the house and every»thing around in destruction. 

 The people, observing ray surprise, cooly said, " It is only the Pigeons ;" 

 and, on running out, I beheld a flock, thirty or forty yards in width, sweep- 

 ing along very lov/, bet^'eeu the house and the mountain, or height, that 

 *formed the second bank of the river. These continued passing for more than 

 a quarter of an hour, and at length varied their bearing so as to pass over 

 the mountain, behind which they disappeared before the rear came up. 



'' In the Atlantic States, though they never appear in such unparalleled 

 multitudes, they are sometimes very numerous ; and great havoc is then 

 made amongst them with the gun, and clap net, and various other implements 

 of destruction. As soon as it is ascertained in a town that the Pigeons are 

 flying numerously in the neighborhood, the gunners rise en masse ; the clap 

 nets are spread out on suitable situations, commonly on an open height in. 

 an old buckwheat field ; four or five live Pigeons, with their eyelids sewed 

 up, are fastened on a moveable stick— a small hut of branches is fitted up for 

 the fowler, at the distance of forty or fifty yards — by the pulling of a string, 

 the stick on which the Pigeons rest, is alternately elevated and depressed,- 

 which produces a fluttering of their wings similar to that of birds just 

 alighting ; this being perceived by the passing flocks, they descend with great 

 rapidity, and, finding corn, buckwheat, &c., strewed about, begin to feed, and 

 are instantly, by the pulling of a cord, covered by the net. In this manner,, 

 ten, twenty, and even thirty dozen, have been caught ai one sweep. Mean- 

 time, the air is darkened with large iDodies of them, moving in various 

 directions ; the woods also swarm with them, in search of acorns ; and the 

 thundering of musketry is perpetual on all sides, from morning to night. — 

 Wagon loads of them are poured into market, where they sell from fifty to 

 twenty-five, and even twelve cents per dozen ; and Pigeons become the order 

 of the day at dinner, breakfast, and supper, until the very name becomes 

 sickening. When they have been kept alive, and fed for some time on corn 

 ajid buckwheat, their flesh acquires great superiority ; but, in their common 

 state, they are dry and blackish, and far inferior to the full grown young 

 ones, or Squabs. 



" The nest of the Wild Pigeon is formed of a few dry slender twigs, 

 carelessly put together, and with so little concavity, that the young one, 

 when half grown, can easily be seen from below. The eggs are pure white- 

 Great numbers of Hawks, and sometimes the Bald Eagle himself, hover 

 about those breeding places, and seize the old or the young from the nest, 

 amidst the rising multitudes, and with the most daring effrontery. The 

 jouug, when beginning to fly, confine themselves to the under part of the- 



