454 



GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



minute. One of these birds, if able to keep up this velocity, 

 could visit the European continent in less than three days." 



It is not for the purpose of seeking a warmer climate that they 

 undertake their journeys, but to procure food when the acorns 

 become scarce in the woods which they inhabit. Their migra- 

 tions, consequently, are irregular as to date. Looking at the 

 innumerable and closely-packed masses of Passenger Pigeons 

 which take part in these voyages confuses the mind. Audubon one 



Fig. 183. — Passenger Pigeons (Ectopistes migratoria, Sw.). 



day endeavoured to count the flocks which passed above him in one 

 hour. He counted a hundred and sixty-three in twenty minutes, 

 but he was soon obliged to give up, the flights succeeded each 

 other so rapidly. He says : " The more I advanced, the more 

 Pigeons I met. The air was literally filled with them. The day- 

 light, in full mid-day, was obscured as by an eclipse ; the dung- 

 fell like flakes in a fall of snow; the buzzing of their Avings 

 stunned me, and gave me a sleepy sensation." These Pigeons are 



