440 A. H. Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. [oct. 



piece, and in a few hours shot 271, when I desisted. I had an 

 opportunity this day of observing the manner in which they feed; 

 it affords a most singular spectacle, and is also an example of the 

 rigid discipline maintained by gregarious animals. This species of 

 pigeon associates in prodigious flocks: one of these flocks, when 

 on the ground, will cover an area of several acres in extent, and are 

 so close to each other that the ground can scarcely be seen. This 

 phalanx moves through the woods with considerable celerity, 

 picking up as it passes along, every thing that will serve for food. 

 It is evident that the foremost ranks must be the most successful, 

 and nothing will remain for the hindermost. That all may have 

 an equal chance, the instant that any rank becomes the last, they 

 rise, and flying over the whole flock, alight exactly ahead of the 

 foremost. They succeed each other with so much rapidity, 

 that there is a continued stream of them in the air; and a side 

 view of them exhibits the appearance of the segment of a large 

 circle, moving through the woods. I observed that they cease to 

 look for food a considerable time before they become the last rank, 

 but strictly adhere to their regulations, and never rise until there 

 are none behind them." 



In 1819, Fearon, while in the Illinois country, found,' "hawks, 

 buzzards, and pigeons in tolerable quantities." 



About the same time, the famous Schoolcraft," " in walking along 

 some parts of the shore, observed a great number of the skeletons 

 and half-consumed bodies of the pigeon, which, in crossing the 

 lake, is often overtaken by severe tempests, and compelled to 

 alight upon the water, and thus drowned, in entire flocks, which 

 are soon thrown up along the shores. This causes the shores of 

 Lake Michigan to be visited by vast numbers of buzzards, eagles 

 and other birds of prey. The Indians also make use of these 

 pigeons, as food, when they are first driven ashore, preserving 

 such in smoke, as they have not immediate occasion for." 



Two years later Howison writes ' of the pigeon as follows : " Long 



1 Fearon, Henry Bradshaw. Sketches of America: etc. London, 1819. 3rd 

 edition, p. 257. 



2 Schoolcraft, Henry R. Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest 

 .... in the year 1820. Albany, 1821, p. 381 (Aug. 25). 



' Howison, John. Sketches of Upper Canada. Edinbm-gh, 1822. 2nd edi- 

 tion, pp. 174, 175. 



