" TOUJOURS PERDRIX ! " 129 



upon the pigeons, on the conditions of each fortunate or 

 unfortunate shot, and on the chances of the morrow's 

 sport. 



For three days nothing was eaten but boiled, or broiled, 

 or stewed, or baked pigeons ; and the air was so impreg- 

 nated with their odour, that one seemed to be living in 

 an immense poultry-yard. 



An arithmetician of the district made a sufficiently 

 curious approximative calculation of the number of indi- 

 viduals composing these extraordinary legions, and of the 

 enormous quantity of food necessary to their sustenance. 

 Taking, for example, a column about five hundred yards in 

 breadth which is much below the ordinary measurement 

 and allowing three hours for the birds composing it to 

 accomplish their flight, as its swiftness was five hundred 

 yards a minute, its length would be two hundred thou- 

 sand yards. Supposing, now, that each square yard was 

 occupied by ten pigeons, we may conclude that their total 

 number amounted to a billion, one hundred and twenty 

 millions, one hundred and forty thousand ; and as each 

 member of a pigeonry daily consumes a quarter of a bushel 

 of seeds or fruits, the daily nourishment of a single band 

 would not require less than one hundred millions, seven 

 hundred and eighty thousand bushels of all kinds of pro- 

 visions. What a formidable appetite ! 



Immediately the pigeons discover, in the territory over 

 which they are passing, whether upon the trees or the 

 ground, a quantity of food sufficient to make it worth 

 their while to halt, you may see them whirl round and 

 round, the azure prisms of their splendid plumage flash- 

 ing in the sun, and passing thus from bright blue to 



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