A Vanished Race 8i 



age, this vast army would at times indulge in marvelous aerial displays, moving 

 gracefully through intricate manoeuvers as one body. Descending the Ohio 

 in 1810, Wilson watched such a gymnastic feat: "The great host with its 

 glittering undulations marked a space in the face of the heavens resembling 

 the windings of a vast and majestic river . . Suddenly the birds would 

 change 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 contemplating them." 



Previous to permanent settlement and for a few subsequent decades, the 

 breeding range embraced the middle tier of states from Missouri to New York, 

 its upper border east of the Appalachians curving sharply northward to follow 

 the southern rim of the St. Lawrence drainage. From colonial times onward, 

 great flights are frequently reported from this eastern section; but the bulk 

 of the birds no doubt inhabited the western half of their habitat. 



Simon Pokagon, the famous Indian chief, than whom no man knew better 

 or loved more the 0-me-me-wog of his people, writes that between 1840 

 and 1880 he visited many breeding places in the states of Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Michigan that were from twenty to thirty miles long and from three to 

 four miles wide, and that every tree in its limits was spotted with nests. A 

 forest tract of thirty by three miles comprises ninety square miles. At fifty 

 trees per acre, this area would contain some 2,880,000 of them. Allowing 

 ten nests per tree, the number of adult birds present amounts to more than 

 57,000,000. 



After the breeding season, swarms wandered about in the spacious summer 

 range, and reveled in the deHcious and inexhaustible crops of berries which 

 ripened in rapid succession during their stay. With the coming of autumn, 

 the flocks prepared to depart. Avoiding the spring routes for obvious reasons, 

 they leisurely moved southward over new highways, tarrying for weeks at a 

 time in the newly stocked granaries located within the zone of travel. During 

 the final stages of the retreat, the vast hordes once more gathered in great 

 flights. It was one of these which, in the fall of 1813, surprised Audubon 

 by its magnitude. Watching the advance columns crossing the Ohio south 

 of Louisville, he attempted to get at the number of flocks, and counted one 

 hundred and twenty-three of them in twenty-one minutes. But so swiftly 

 did they go by that the teller desisted. "Pigeons were passing in undiminished 

 numbers that day, and continued to do so for three days in succession." 

 Another observer, who for many years witnessed the return of the flights in 

 northeastern Ohio, puts the number of birds in one of these flocks at 141,000,- 

 000. 



Among the wild enemies of the Pigeon, indeed the most dangerous of 



