42 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



away, about two weeks after the >,^§gs were hatched 

 and the squabs ready to leave their nests. Mr. Audu- 

 bon did not wait for the squab period, but floated down 

 the river in his boat to the Ohio, contemplating the 

 flight. of pigeons above him — rising from the horizon, 

 "sort of a columbine Vesuvius" — and relieved his feel- 

 ings by writing a description of the appearance in the 

 heavens, every day of his trip to Kvanston, Indiana, 

 similar to what has already been quoted from Mr. Wil- 

 son in a previous chapter, upon a similar observation. 



Air. Audubon concluded his notes with the follow- 

 ing words : 



"But I cannot describe to you the extreme beauty 

 of their aerial evolutions when a hawk chanced to 

 press upon the rear of a flock. At once, Hke a torrent, 

 and with a noise like thunder, they rushed into a com- 

 pact mass, pressing upon each other lowards the cen- 

 tre. In these almost solid masses they darted forward 

 in undulating and angular Hues, descended and swept 

 close over the earth with inconceivable velocity, mount- 

 ed perpendicularly so as to resemble a vast column, and 

 v/hen high were seen Vvdieeling and twisting within 

 their continued lines, which then resembled the coils of 

 a gigantic serpent." 



The birds flew with such martial exactness, accord- 

 ing to C. H. Shearer, of Reading, who painted the great 

 picture "The Flight of the Wild Pigeons" that when 

 they became too compact or congested, numbers of 

 them dropped in great spirals and resumed the flight 

 at a lower strata. 



