THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 47 



conclusions, and, no doubt, they got their estimates 

 reasonably correct; but neither knew that Kentucky 

 held another nesting, than the one he saw, at the same 

 time, nor that two other cities were, at the same time, 

 being seen by other men in Pennsylvania. There may 

 have been several more nestings or big roosting cities, 

 waiting for the beechnuts to sprout, in some northern 

 forest; and other millions of birds scattered through the 

 forests of -the south. The young, the males, and the 

 females had a curious habit of dividing into three sep- 

 arate flocks. When the young leave their nests they 

 shift for themselves, passing through the forest in 

 search of their food, hunting among the leaves for 

 mast, where their parents made certain, in advance of 

 nesting, that plenty could be found ; and, by feeding 

 in distant forests, preserved feeding grounds for the 

 young to begin upon. They appeared like a prodigi- 

 ous torrent rolling along through the woods, every one 

 striving to be in the front. 



There were, probably, four broods each spring, be- 

 tvv^een Alabama in the south, beginning about Feb- 

 ruary, and the Hudson bay forest region, late in July 

 and August, when their favorite food would be ready 

 for them in these regions, and for each migration an 

 intermediate date, allowing for about seven weeks be- 

 tween the beginning of a brood and the succeeding one, 

 although five weeks were sufficient time for a brood 

 near the former one. For building the nest and lay- 

 ing the eggs, two days; incubation, fourteen days; 

 feeding the young birds, sixteen to eighteen days. 



