408 LEAVES FROM THE 



began to sit. The cock took his turn at incubation, and 

 when sixteen days had passed, the young bird appeared. 



But if only one egg is laid by the passenger-pigeon, 

 the numbers of the species exceed belief, and they 

 afford a most plentiful supply to our Transatlantic 

 cousins. Their roosting-places in those deep and exten- 

 sive forests exhibit an extraordinary spectacle. The 

 dung-covered ground is strewn with the limbs of the 

 trees broken down by their weight ; the grass and under- 

 wood are destroyed, and not unfrequently thousands of 

 acres of trees are killed. Upon the discovery of one of 

 these roosts, the whole country comes in to wage war 

 upon the birds during the night, with all sorts of destruc- 

 tive engines : guns, clubs, long poles, and sulphur-pots, 

 are plied in all directions, till the invaders have filled 

 their sacks and loaded their horses to their hearts' 

 content. 



But the breeding-places are even more extensive than 

 the roosts. These, in the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and 

 Indiana, are generally in the backwoods, and often ex- 

 tend far across the country. Wilson saw one not far 

 from Shelbyville, in Kentucky, which stretched nearly 

 north and south through the woods, extending upwards 

 of forty miles, with a breadth of several miles. In this 

 tract, almost every tree bore nests, wherever there was 

 nest-room in the branches. The pigeons made their first 

 appearance about the 10th of April, and those which 

 escaped left the place with their young before the 25th 

 of May. As soon as the young were fully grown, and 

 before they all left the nests, large parties of the inhabi- 

 tants came from all the parts adjacent, with waggons, 

 axes, beds, and working utensils, and, with their families, 

 encamped at this immense nursery. Some of them told 

 Wilson that the noise was so great that their horses were 

 terrified, and that it was difficult for one person to hear 

 another speak without bawling in his ear. The scene 



