226 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



saw the rocket-like flame pierce the air, while the boom- 

 ing report followed it. How many pigeons were in that 

 flight, no man could tell; it was the most astonishing 

 sight, of the kind, I ever saw; there were not only thou- 

 sands, but hundreds of thousands, in the flight that after- 

 noon. I candidly believe there were more pigeons in 

 that drove than there are game birds in the United States 

 to-day. Our early ornithologists, Audubon, Wilson, and 

 others, tell what may seem wonderful tales of the abun- 

 dance of pigeons, but there can be no question of the birds 

 having been as plenty as they say. The flight of the 

 pigeons, when flying singly or traveling, is very rapid, its 

 speed being estimated at 100 miles an hour; this speed 

 is attained when darting through the woods or when 

 in high flight. When going to and returning from 

 their feeding-grounds, they follow the hills and ravines, 

 searching for food, and do not fly at such great speed. 

 Their food consists of corn, oats, wheat, berries, and rice, 

 but more especially the acorns and beech-nuts indeed, 

 nuts of all kinds that they can swallow. These nuts are 

 sought for on the ground, and are called under the gen- 

 eral head of mast. Where mast can be found, there the 

 birds congregate in immense flocks, devouring, in their 

 voracity, and by reason of their numbers, all the food 

 they can get at. Providence did not intend these birds 

 should die of starvation, and provided them with the 

 means of sustenance in their strong wings, and conse- 

 quent powers of flight and endurance. They have fre- 

 quently been found in the Eastern States, their crops 

 filled with rice, which they only could have obtained in 

 Southern fields. Distance has no effect on them when 

 they are searching for food, and they will fly sixty or 100 

 miles to feed, then return to their roosts. They loved 

 the forests; these shaded spots were their homes, for, as 

 the poet says: 



