BIRr>S OF KAT^SAS 



125 



space within a very few lionrs. Audubon estimates tlie 

 rapidity of their flight as at least a mile a minute. 



" The Wild Pigeons are said to move, in their flight, 

 by quickly-repeated flaps of the wings, which are brought 

 more or less near to the body, according to the degree of 

 velocity required. During the love season they often fly 

 in a circling manner, supporting themselves with both 

 wings angularly elevated. Before alighting they break 

 the force of their flight by repeated flappings. 



" Their great powers of flight, and the ability thus given 

 to change at will their residence, and their means of renew- 

 ing a supply of food, are also thought to be seconded by a 

 remarkable power of vision, enabling them to discover their 

 food with great readiness. Mr. Audubon states that he has 

 observed flocks of these birds, in passing over a sterile part 

 of the country, fly high in the air, with an extended front, 

 enabling them to survey hundreds of acres at once. When 

 the land is richly covered with food, or the trees well sup- 

 plied with mast, they fly low in order to discover tlie part 

 most plentifully supplied. . . . 



" In its movements on the ground, as also when alighted 

 on the branches of .trees, the Wild Pigeon is remarkable for 

 its ease and grace. It walks on the ground and also on 

 the limbs of trees with an easy, graceful motion, frequently 

 jerking its tail and moving its neck backward and forward. 

 ''Mr. Audubon states that in Kentucky he lias re- 

 peatedly visited one of the remarkable roosting-places to 

 which these birds resort at night. This one was on the 

 banks of Green Eiver, and to this place the birds came 

 every night at sunset, arriving from all directions, some of 

 them from the distance of several hundred miles, as was 



