voi.xxvim 



1911 



J Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. 44o 



bending them to the ground, the self-slaughter is not so great; 

 and at night, men, with lanterns and poles, approach and beat 

 them to death without much personal danger. But the grand 

 mode of taking them is by setting fire to the high dead grass, leaves, 

 and shrubs underneath, in a wide blazing circle, fired at different 

 parts, at the same time, so as soon to meet. Then down rush 

 the pigeons in immense numbers, and indescribable confusion, 

 to be roasted alive, and gathered up dead next day from heaps 

 two feet deep." In Michigan, 1819, Dana found that * " pigeons .... 

 in autumn appear in swarms, and prey upon corn and new sown 

 wheat." 



On September 27, 1820, James Flint in his 'Letters from Amer- 

 ica,' etc. (Edinburgh, 1822), finds that on the east side of the little 

 Miami River 2 " The woods abound in pigeons, a small species of 

 fowls which migrates to the southward in winter, and return to 

 the north in spring. Their numbers are so immense that they 

 sometimes move in clouds, upwards of a mile in length. At the 

 time when they are passing, the people have good sport in shooting 

 them, as one flock frequently succeeds another before the gun can 

 be reloaded. The parts of the woods where they roost, are dis- 

 tinguished by the trees having their branches broken off, and many 

 of them deadened by the pressure of the myriads that alight upon 

 them." 



In 'Travels from Detroit Northwest', etc., Schoolcraft when at 

 Sandy Lake July 13, 1820 says: 3 "The . . . pigeon and turtle dove, 

 occasionally appeared in the forest, to enliven this part of the 

 journey." At Prairie du Chien, " The pigeon, .... are also common 

 along this part of the Mississippi." In a much later work this 

 same author uses the pigeon to illustrate the hurry and bustle of a 

 busy town. 4 " Whoever has seen a flock of hungry pigeons, in the 

 spring, alight on the leaf-covered ground, beneath a forest, and 



1 Dana, E. Geographical Sketches on the Western Country, etc. Cincinnati, 

 1819, p. 262. 



2 Early Western Travels, Vol. IX. p. 301. 



3 Schoolcraft, H. R. Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest, 

 etc., in the year 1820. Albany. 1821, pp. 216, 356. 



4 Schoolcraft, H. R. Personal Memoirs of a Residence qf Thirty Years with 

 the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers, etc., 1812-1842. Phila., 1851, pp. 

 95, 367. 



