° 1911 J Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. 441 



wood or wild pigeons. One thing which may perhaps appear 

 incredible, is that the sun is obscured by them; these birds living 

 on nothing but beechnuts and acorns of the forests, are excellent 

 in autumn; one sometimes kills as many as SO of them at one shot." 

 In 1772, 1773, Rev. David Jones, records in the Ohio valley * "not 

 many pigeons." In Ohio the Rev. M. Cutler found pigeons as he 

 had in Massachusetts (p. 98). When not far from Marietta on 

 September 10 and 11, 1788, he entered in his journal the follow- 

 ing:' 2 "Saw some pigeons, but killed none." "Went on shore 

 after pigeons alone, .... Killed one pigeon, ..." In his trip 

 to Miami, in 1785, General Butler on December 8, at Hebron, 

 notes 3 "pigeons very plenty flying over." In 1792 John Hecke- 

 welder made a journey to the Wabash and on his trip along the 

 Ohio observed that 4 " Sunday, December 2d the flight of wild 

 pigeons was indescribable, the low-lands were entirely covered 

 with them. The inhabitants, with few exceptions forgot it was 

 Sunday and went out to shoot pigeons." 



In 1805 (September 2), when near Cassville, Wise, Pike 5 

 "landed to shoot pigeons." April 16, 1806, at Brownsville, he 

 also mentions that he "Shot at some pigeons at our camp." Sev- 

 eral years elapse before Hulme's 'Tour in the Western Countries 

 of America, Sept. 30, 1818-Aug. 8, 1819.' appeared. On June 23, 

 1819, we have this entry: 6 "See ... .thousands of pigeons. 

 Came to Pigeon Creek, about 230 miles below the Falls, and stopped 

 for the night at Evansville." At French Lick, July 5, 1819, he 

 records: "Some of the trees near the Judge's [his host] exhibit 

 a curious spectacle; a large piece of wood appears totally dead, all 

 the leaves brown and the branches broken, from being roosted 

 upon lately by an enormous multitude of pigeons. A novel sight 

 for us unaccustomed to the abundance of the backwoods!" There 



1 Jones, Horatio G. Journal of Rev. David Jones. In Cincinnati Miscellany. 

 By Chas. Cist. Vol. II, p. 232. 



2 Cutler, W. P. and Julia P. Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manas- 

 seh Cutler. Cincinnati, 1888, Vol. I, pp. 98, 422. 



> The Olden Time, Vol. II, 1847, p. 495. 



« Penn. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. XII, 1888, p. 182. 



5 Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, The Expeditions of, During the Years 1805-6-7. 

 New edit, by Elliott Coues. 3 vols. N. Y., 1895. Vol. I, pp. 32, 206. 



6 Early Western Travels, 1748-1846. Edited by R. G. Thwaites. Cleveland, 

 O., 1904, Vol. X, pp. 45, 63. 



