lo The Passenger Pigeon 



of two thousand five hundred miles from its mouth, 

 reckoning the meanderings of the river; were also met 

 with in the interior of Louisiana by Colonel Pike; and 

 extend their range as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, 

 occasionally visiting or breeding in almost every quarter 

 of the United States. 



But the most remarkable characteristic of these birds 

 is their associating together, both in their migrations, 

 and also during the period of incubation, in such pro- 

 digious numbers, as almost to surpass belief; and which 

 has no parallel among any other of the feathered tribes 

 on the face of the earth, with which all naturalists are 

 acquainted. These migrations appear to be undertaken 

 rather in quest of food, than merely to avoid the cold 

 of the climate, since we find them lingering in the north- 

 ern regions, around Hudson's Bay, so late as December; 

 and since their appearance is so casual and irregular, 

 sometimes not visiting certain districts for several years 

 in any considerable numbers, while at other times they 

 are innumerable. I have witnessed these migrations in 

 the Genesee country, often in Pennsylvania, and also 

 in various parts of Virginia, with amazement; but all 

 that I had then seen of them were mere straggling 

 parties, when compared with the congregated millions 

 which I have since beheld in our Western forests, in the 

 States of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory. 

 These fertile and extensive regions abound with the 

 nutritious beechnut, which constitutes the chief food of 



