136 Flight, fyc. of Pigeons. 



Although the eloquent account of the Passenger Pigeon, given by 

 Wilson in his Ornithology, is well known ; still, so much of it as re- 

 lates to the flight, and to the roosting and breeding places of the pi- 

 geon, will form a very appropriate sequel to the notice of Dr. Hil- 

 dreth, especially, as the two accounts are separated by an interval 

 of more than twenty years, and we are thus enabled to see, how far 

 time and the increasing population of the western states have influ- 

 enced the state of facts. — Ed. 



The most remarkable characteristic of these birds is their associa- 

 ting together, both in their migrations and also during the period of 

 incubation, in such prodigious numbers as almost to surpass belief; 

 and which has no parallel among any other of the feathered tribes, 

 on the face of the earth, with which naturalists are acquainted. 



These migrations appear to be undertaken rather in quest of food, 

 than merely to avoid the cold of the climate ; since we find them 



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lingering in the northern regions around Hudson's Bay so late as 

 December ; and since their appearance is so casual and irregular ; 

 sometimes not visiting certain districts for several years in any con- 

 • siderable numbers, while at other times they are innumerable. I 

 have witnessed these migrations in the Genessee country — often in 

 Pennsylvania, and also in various parts of Virginia, with amazement; 

 but all that I had then seen of them were mere straggling parties, 

 when compared with the congregated millions which I have since 

 beheld in our western forests, in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and 

 the Indiana territory. These fertile and extensive regions abound 

 with the nutritious beech nut, which constitutes the chief food of the 

 wild pigeon. In seasons when these nuts are abundant, correspond- 

 ing multitudes of pigeons may be confidently expected. It some- 

 times happens that having consumed the whole produce of the beech 

 trees in an extensive district, they discover another at the distance 

 perhaps of sixty or eighty miles, to which they regularly repair every 

 morning, and return as regularly in the course of the day, or in the 

 evening, to their place of general rendezvous, or as it is usually call- 

 ed, the roosting place. These roosting places are always in the 

 woods, and sometimes occupy a large extent of forest. When they 

 have frequented one of these places for some time, the appearance 

 it exhibits is surprising. The ground is covered to the depth of sev- 

 eral inches with their dung ; all the tender grass and underwood de- 

 stroyed ; the surface strewed with large limbs of trees broken down 



