THE PASSENGER PIGEON 



297 



the Spring, from the southward; the mighty mass col- 

 lecting in an encampment in a forest, upwards of nine 

 miles in length, and four in breadth, in which there was 

 scarcely a tree, large or small, which was not loaded with 

 their nests. In those parts of England frequented by our 

 common Wood-Pigeons, the well-known rustling and 

 rattling of a host of wings, as a cloud of them rise from 

 some favourite haunt in the wood, will not easily be for- 

 gotten ; but this clattering of flapping pinions is nothing 

 when compared to the uprising of these American 

 flights, which is described as an absolute and constant 

 roaring, so loud and overpowering, that persons on ap- 

 proaching the wood, can with difficulty hear each other 

 speak. Amidst these scenes of apparent bustle and 

 confusion, there reigns, notwithstanding, the most perfect 

 regularity and order. The old ones take their turns 

 regularly in feeding their young ; and when any of them 

 are killed upon their nests, others immediately supply 

 their places. 



The Passenger, or Migratory Pigeon. 



It has been said, that they only lay one egg at a time, 

 but this is not strictly true, many of them laying two. 



