PASSENGER PIGEON. 3 



and as this kind of food is digested by them entirely in twelve 

 hours, they must have travelled probably three or four hundred 

 miles in about the half of that time, or have sped at the rate of 

 a mile in a minute. With a velocity like this, our Pigeon might 

 visit the shores of Europe in less than three days ; and, in fact, 

 according to Flemming, a straggler was actually shot in Scot- 

 land in the winter of 1825. Associated with this rapidity of 

 flight must also be the extent and acuteness of its vision, or 

 otherwise the object of its motions would be nugatory; so 

 that while thus darting over the country almost with the 

 velocity of thought, it still keeps up a strict survey for its 

 fare, and in passing over a sterile region sails high in the air 

 with a widely extended front, but instantly drops its flight at 

 the prospect of food, flying low till it alights near an ample 

 supply. 



The associated numbers of Wild Pigeons, the numerous 

 flocks which compose the general swarm, are without any 

 other parallel in the history of the feathered race ; they can 

 indeed alone be compared to the finny shoals of herrings, 

 which, descending from the Arctic regions, discolor and fill 

 the ocean to the extent of mighty kingdoms. Of their amaz- 

 ing numbers and the circumstances attendant on this fact, the 

 reader will do well to consult the indefatigable Wilson and the 

 celebrated Audubon. Our limits and more bounded personal 

 information will not allow us to enlarge on this curious and 

 extraordinary subject. To talk of hundreds of millions of 

 individuals of the same species habitually associated in feed- 

 ing, roosting, and breeding, without any regard to climate or 

 season as an operating cause in these gregarious movements, 

 would at first appear to be wholly incredible if not borne otit 

 by the numerous testimony of all the inhabitants of the neigh- 

 boring districts. The approach of the mighty feathered army 

 with a loud rushing roar and a stirring breeze, attended by a 

 sudden darkness, might be mistaken for a fearful tornado about 

 to overwhelm the face of Nature. For several hours together 

 the vast host, extending some miles in breadth, still continues 

 to pass in flocks without diminution. The whole air is filled 



