438 A. H. Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. Loct. 



At the same time, James Mease discusses ^ the pigeon at some 

 length. "The columha migratoria, or common wild pigeon of the 

 United States, winters in the woods of the southern states and 

 Florida, and pass over to the Bahama Islands. After their return 

 in the Autumn to their Winter quarters, they sometimes, in mild 

 Winters, remain in the middle and northern states. During the 

 present season (1806-7), which, upon the whole, has not been 

 severe, they were occasionally seen in our markets. The rev. 

 Mr. Hall gives us the following curious account of the pigeon roosts 

 in the Mississippi territory. 



" ' Another curiosity, which occurred to my view, was the pigeon 

 roost on a branch of Big Black, about sixty miles below the Chicka- 

 saw nation. An account of the phenomenon there exhibited, 

 carries with it such an air of the marvellous, that, liad I been the 

 only spectator, it would have been passed over in silence. The 

 pigeons had taken their station in and about a place known by 

 the name of the Hurricane Swamp. The greater part of the large 

 timber had been blown down, and they had perched on the branches 

 of the small timber that remained; and which, being broken by 

 them, now hung down like the inverted bush of a broom. Under 

 each tree and sappling, lay an astonishing quantity of dung, of 

 which, from the specimens we saw, there must have been not only 

 hundreds, but thousands, of waggon loads. Round each resting 

 place was an hillock raised a considerable height above the 

 surface, although the substance had been there eighteen months 

 when we made our observations on the place. At that time the 

 heaps were, no doubt, greatly sunk. W^hat bounds they occupied 

 we could not ascertain as the swamp was so full of brambles and 

 fallen timber that we could not leave the road. It is near a mile 

 in diameter; and as far as I can recollect, their traces were the 

 chief part of the way, and about an hundred paces on the north 

 side of the swamp. ' 



"To give an idea of the number and weight of these pigeons, 

 Mr. H. then relates, that a hickory tree, of more than a foot in 

 diameter, was alighted on by so many of these birds, that its top 

 was bent down to the ground, and its roots started a little on the 



' Mease, .Tames. A Geological Account of the United States, etc. Phila- 

 delphia, 1807, pp. 3417-3149. 



