AMERICAN PIGEONS. 59 



ninety nests on a single tree ; but the pigeons had 

 abandoned this place for another, sixty or eighty 

 miles off, towards Green River, where they were 

 said at that time to be equally numerous. From the 

 great numbers that were constantly passing over 

 head to or from that quarter, I had no doubt of the 

 truth of this statement. The beech mast had been 

 chiefly consumed in Kentucky, and the pigeons every 

 morning, a little before sunrise, set out for the In- 

 diana territory, the nearest part of which was about 

 sixty miles distant. Many of these returned before 

 ten o'clock, and the great body generally appeared on 

 their return a little after noon. I had left the public 

 road to visit the remains of the breeding-place near 

 Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with my 

 gun, on my way to Frankfort, when, about one o'clock, 

 the pigeons, which I had observed flying the greater 

 part of the morning northerly, began the return in 

 such immense numbers as I never before had wit- 

 nessed. Coming to an opening by the side of a 

 creek called the Benson, where I had a more unin- 

 terrupted view, I was astonished at their appearance. 

 They were flying with great steadiness and rapidity, 

 at a height beyond gunshot, in several strata deep, 

 and so close together that, could shot have reached 

 them, one discharge could not have failed of bring- 

 ing down several individuals. From right to left, 

 as far as the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast 

 procession extended, seeming everywhere equally 

 crowded. Curious to determine how long this ap- 

 pearance would continue, I took out my watch to 

 note the time, and sat down to observe them. It 

 was then half past one. I sat for more than an hour, 

 but, instead of a diminution of this prodigious pro- 

 cession, it seemed rather to increase both in numbers 

 and rapidity ; and, anxious to reach Frankfort before 

 night, I rose and went on. About four o'clock in the 

 afternoon I crossed the Kentucky river at the town of 

 Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my 



