THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 429 



flights succeeded each other so rapidly. He says : " The more I 

 advanced, the more pigeons I met. The air was literally filled 

 with them. The daylight in full mid-day was obscured as by 

 an eclipse ; the dung fell like flakes in a fall of snow ; the buzzing 

 of their wings stunned me, and gave me a sleepy sensation." These 

 Pigeons are endowed with very strong sight. When flying at a 

 considerable height they can perfectly distinguish the places which 

 will furnish them with the means of subsistence. Having found 

 a suitable country, they alight, and in a few minutes completely 

 ravage it. Large quantities of them can then be destroyed 

 without any apparent diminution in their number. Some hours 

 after their descent they again take to flight, to regain their nocturnal 

 domicile, frequently twenty or thirty miles distant, where a frightful 

 slaughter is often made amongst them. Long before the sun 

 sets the inhabitants of surrounding counties await them with horses, 

 carts, guns, and ammunition. Some even bring flocks of pigs, 

 to fatten on the flesh of the pigeons which the destroyers are 

 unable to carry away. Audubon, who assisted at one of these 

 slaughters, has related it as follows. He says : " Every one holds 

 himself in readiness, with eyes directed towards the heavens. 

 Suddenly a general qry of ' They come ! ' resounds. The noise 

 which they made, although at a distance, reminded me of a strong 

 sea-breeze amongst the cordage of a ship, the sails of which are 

 furled. When they passed above my head I felt a current of air 

 which astonished me. Thousands were already struck down by 

 men armed with poles, but they continued to arrive without inter- 

 mission. Fires were lit, and it was then a fantastic sight full of 

 frightful magnificence. The birds precipitated themselves in masses, 

 and pitched where they could, one upon the other, in large heaps 

 like barrels. Then the branches gave way under the weight, cracked 

 and fell, bringing to the ground and crushing the closely-packed 

 flocks, which covered every part of the trees. It was a lamentable 

 scene of tumult and confusion. In vain I tried to speak, or even 

 to call the persons nearest to me. It was with difficulty that I 

 could hear the guns fire, and I only perceived they had fired by 

 seeing them reload their arms. Pigeons continued to come, and 

 it was past midnight before I noticed any diminution in the number 

 of the arrivals. The uproar continued all night. At last the day 

 approached, the noise began to abate a little, and long before we 

 could distinguish objects, the pigeons commenced to start in quite 

 an opposite direction to that in which they had come in the evening. 

 At sunrise all that were capable of flying had disappeared. Now 



