44 BIRDS OF WELSON COUNTY. 



fluttering millions, from the freqiient falling of large 

 brandies, broken down by the weight of the multitudes 

 above, and which, in their descent, often destroyed num- 

 bers of the birds themselves, while the clothes of those 

 engaged in traversing the woods were completely covered 

 with the excrements of the pigeons. These circumstances 

 were related to me by many of the most respectable part 

 of the community in that quarter, and were confirmed, 

 in part, by what I myself witnessed. I passed for several 

 miles through the same breeding place, where every tree 

 was spotted with nests, the remains of those above de- 

 scribed. In many cases I counted upwards of ninety 

 nests on a single tree ; but the pigeons had abandoned 



this for another, sixty or eighty miles off, towards Green 

 river, where they were said at that time to be equally 



numerous. From the great numbers that were constantly 



passing overhead to or from that quarter, I had no doubt 



of the truth of this statement. The mast had been chiefly 



consumed in Kentucky, and the pigeons, every morning 



a little before sunrise, set out for the Indiana territory, 



the nearest part of which was about sixty miles distant. 



Many of these returned before ten o'lock, and the great 



body generally appeared on their return a little after 



noon." Shelby ville is about thirty-eight miles north of 



Bardstown. It is hardly necessary to state that no pigeon 



" roost" is known to exist in Kentucky at this day. 



Genus Zenaidura. 

 143. * Zenaidura carolinensis (Linn.) Mourning Dove. 



A common permanent resident. They congregate in large 

 flocks in the corn-fields during the fall and winter. 



