446 Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. [ G ct. 



certain periods, violent thunder storms rage . . . . ; and the shore 

 has been known to be covered with the skeletons of pigeons and 

 gulls, which had been drowned in crossing at such times. Eagles, 

 in great numbers, also frequent these shores, in order to glut 

 themselves upon their dead bodies, which are thrown upon the 

 beach." 



In Indiana, at New Harmony, Maximilian, Prince of Wied, 

 finds 1 "pigeons, . . . .were seen in the orchards during the whole 

 winter." In the same State at a somewhat later date (1849), the 

 'Indiana Gazetteer,' (3rd edit., Indianapolis, p. 15) records: "A 

 place called the Pigeon Roost, in Scott county, was formerly so 

 much resorted to by Pigeons, that for miles nearly all the small 

 branches of a thick forest were broken off by their alighting in 

 such numbers on them, and the ground was covered with their 

 ordure several inches in depth for years afterwards. In the south- 

 east corner of Marion county there was a similar Pigeon Roost, 

 and several others in the State have been mentioned." 



Finally, Ferris's note of Michigan says : 2 " The wild pigeons, 

 in countless numbers, will hover, and flutter, and flap among the 

 bur-oaks." 



West of the Mississippi Valley. 



In this wide expanse of territory the pigeon is not so common 

 as eastward of the Mississippi. The roll of records is not extended. 

 It begins with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. When near 

 47° 3' 10" north latitude July 12, 1805, Patrick Gass says, 3 " Here 

 we saw some wild pigeons and turtle doves." A day later (July 

 13, 1805), at White Bear Islands (Missouri River), Lewis says: 4 

 " I saw a number of turtledoves and some pigeons today, of the 

 latter I shot one; they are the same common to the Lnited States, 

 or the wild pigeon as they are called." Near the same place one 



i Early Western Travels, Vol. XXII, p. 195. 



2 Ferris, J. The States and Territories of the Great West. N. Y. and Auburn, 

 1856, p. 176. 



3 Gass, Patrick. Journal of the Voyages. . . .of Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clarke, 

 etc. 4th edit., Phila., 1S12, p 107. 



4 Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806, Original Journals of. Edited by 

 R. G. Thwaites. 8 vols., New York, 1904-5. Vol. II, p. 227. 



