OF NEW ENGLAND. 379 



prey. This is eminently the case in New England, where they 

 were once abundant. In summer they are now chiefly confined 

 to the northern and wilder districts, but in winter they may 

 occasionally be seen in more southern portions. They are 

 most abundant near Boston as migrants in April and October. 

 There is a low pine-wood within the present limits of the 

 city, in which I have known flocks of several hundreds to roost 

 every year, but I have never known them to be disturbed. 

 The Wild Pigeons are still wonderfully numerous in many 

 parts of the Western States, and it was there that Wilson 

 made such observations as can no longer be repeated in any 

 place, where I have seen these birds. Though toward the 

 latter end of my work obliged to quote more often than I had 

 hoped would be necessary, I do not hesitate to present to my 

 readers several extracts from Wilson's extremely interesting 

 biography. 



After speaking of their range, he says: "But the most 

 remarkable characteristic of these birds is their associating 

 together, both in their migrations and also during the period 

 of incubation, in such prodigious numbers as almost to surpass 

 belief ; and which has no parallel among any other of the feath- 

 ered tribes, on the face of the earth, with which naturalists are 

 acquainted. 



" These migrations appear to be undertaken rather in quest 

 of food, than merely to avoid the cold of the climate ; since we 

 find them lingering in the northern regions around Hudson's 

 Bay so late as December ; and since their appearance is so 

 casual and irregular ; sometimes not visiting certain districts 

 for several years in any considerable numbers, while at other 

 times they are innumerable. I have witnessed these migra- 

 tions in the Genessee Country often in Pennsylvania, and 

 also in various parts of Virginia, with amazement ; but all that I 

 had then seen of them were mere straggling parties, when 

 compared with the congregated millions which I have since be- 

 held in our western forests, in the States of Ohio, Kentucky, 

 and the Indiana territory. These fertile and extensive regions 

 abound with the nutritious beech nut, which constitutes the 



