OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 2 ( J7 



low, that hundreds were killed, and the people along their line 

 of Might, seemed to subsist almost wholly upon Pigeons. 



Wilson's account of their migrations is substantially the 

 same. In Pennsylvania, Western Xew York, and in divers 

 parts of Virginia, he observed immense flocks, which were 

 quite small in comparison with the congregated myriads 

 which he noticed in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiania. 



Their roosting-quarters are none the less surprising than 

 their migrations. On the banks of the Green River in 

 Kentucky, was a famous rendezvous, where for hundreds 

 of miles around these birds gathered at the close of day. 

 The forest in which the}' roosted, was forty miles long and 

 about three miles wide, and contained trees of considerable 

 magnitude. At the time of his visit, it had been occupied 

 about two weeks, and the ground beneath was completely 

 covered with excrement, to the depth of several inches. 

 The forest gave indications of having been desolated by 

 a tornado, as trees two feet in diameter, and thick branches 

 of many of the largest, had been broken down by their 

 burden. Many persons gathered together on the approach 

 of sunset, with pine-knot torches, and armed with guns 

 and long poles. The birds arrived by thousands, their 

 coming being indicated by a noise not unlike that pro- 

 duced by the rushing of a gale through the riggings of a 

 sea-bound vessel. Their velocity was so great as to create 

 a current of air as they passed overhead. At sunset, the 

 work of destruction began. Manv were killed bv the pole- 

 men. In some instances, they accumulated to such an 

 extent upon the tree-branches, that several gave way, and 

 thus precipitated hundreds to the ground, those beneath 

 being killed by pressure from above. The sound pro- 

 duced by the birds at the roost could be distinctly heard 

 at the distance of three miles. As the day began to ap- 

 proach, the noise perceptibly diminished, and long before 

 day -break, all that were not disabled, had disappeared. 

 The destruction had been so great, that the dead and 



