THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 31 



hausted into the water and, flapping their wings, swam 

 to the other shore and ran on until night. When 

 their fat bodies were reduced and muscles grew hard 

 they returned in flocks to find thf.ir kindred. The 

 injured and weak birds remained behind, for the old 

 birds waited only a day or two before they started to 

 the next place selected for nesting ground. The weak 

 remained, scattered through the forest and briar 

 patches, until strong enough to join another migration 

 or until they were killed by the enemies that sought 

 them by day and by night. 



When building their nests the parent birds selected 

 a clump of evergreen trees — hemlocks and pines — ^by 

 a little stream, with rising ground on the east side, 

 building nests on all the strong limbs and branches, 

 except a few near the top for the roosts of those not 

 sitting on the nests, and even buildirig many nests on 

 the branches of the deciduous trees that were stand- 

 ing among the evergreen trees within the boundaries 

 of each colony of nests — the wards of their city — and 

 all the trees were loaded with nests, so that branches 

 broke down, trees came crashing to the earth and the 

 nests of eggs and young birds were destroyed. Wild 

 beasts of prey devoured the young and fought over 

 them through the night, making a hideous uproar, and 

 owls and hawks attacked the old birds upon the roosts 

 above the nests. 



The farmers brought their hogs to the grounds and 

 built log pens to keep them in, feeding them upon the 

 young birds, or they turned them loose each morning 



