60 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS. 



head seemed as numerous and as extensive as ever. 

 Long after this I observed them in large bodies, that 

 continued to pass for six or eight minutes, and these 

 again were followed by other detached bodies, all 

 moving in the same southeast direction till after six 

 in the evening. The great breadth of front which 

 this mighty multitude preserved would seem to inti- 

 mate a corresponding breadth of their breeding-place, 

 which, by several gentlemen who had lately passed 

 through part of it, was stated to me at several miles. 

 It was said to be in Green county, and that the 

 young began to fly about the middle of March. On 

 the 17th of April, forty-nine miles beyond Danville, 

 and not far from Green River, I crossed this same 

 breeding-place, where the nests for more than three 

 miles spotted every tree ; the leaves not being yet out, 

 I had a fair prospect of them, and was really aston- 

 ished at their numbers. A few bodies of pigeons 

 lingered yet in different parts of the woods, the roar- 

 ing of whose wings were heard in various quarters 

 around me. All accounts agree in stating that each 

 nest contains only a single young one. These are 

 so extremely fat, that the Indians and many of the 

 whites are accustomed to melt down the fat for 

 domestic purposes, as a substitute for butter and 

 lard. At the time they leave the nest they are nearly 

 as heavy as the old ones, but become much leaner 

 after they are turned out to shift for themselves."* 

 The platforms, however, which are thus built by 

 some of the pigeon family, are mere miniatures of 

 the strong, substantial, and extensive structures of 

 the same kind which are formed by a considerable 

 number of birds of prey (Falconida, LEACH). Among 

 these platform-builders on the large scale, we have 

 the griffard, or martial eagle (Aquila bellicosd) of 

 Southern Africa, a powerful bird, which preys on an- 

 telopes, hares, and similar animals, and is in the habit 

 of soaring so high as to elude the sight. According 

 * Wilson's Amer. Ornith., v., 207. 



