THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 57 



Clay that can imagine what immense bodies of pigeons 

 there would be in a large nesting city. The nesting 

 we had in McKean and Potter counties, Pennsylvania, 

 ir. 1870, which was the largest in this locality since 

 1830, was from one-half mile to two miles wide and 

 about forty miles long, running through an unbroken 

 forest. The direction of the line was nearly east and 

 west, a zigzag line to keep near the main range of 

 mountains that divides the waters of the Allegheny and 

 the Susquehanna rivers. The male birds help build the 



nests ; as a rule, one egg is laid in each nest The 



hens sit on the nests over night, while the males roost 

 in the nesting or in adjacent trees. Now the birds are 

 divided into flocks of males that go for food by them- 

 selves, and the females go in flocks, for food, by them- 

 selves. The males establish the line of flight from the 

 nestings, sometimes going sixty or seventy miles for 



their food The males take the places of the fe- 



m.ales on the nests while the latter go in search of food, 

 and return to occupy the nests by night. 



**It takes about fourteen days for the eggs to hatch, 

 and in about fifteen days after hatching, the young 

 birds are left to their own fate. The young birds are 

 fed all their craws can hold and they are so fat, when 

 left, that they can't fly much for three or four days. 

 As soon as they get full use of their wings, they know 

 where to go, for they then follow the same line of 

 flight the old birds took a week before. The old birds 



