PASSENGER PIGEONS. 95 



neighbourhood the crops of nuts and acorns had 

 failed. It was of no use to burn powder at them, 

 for they kept out of the reach of the longest- 

 ranged fowling-piece. "When a grey eagle dashed 

 upon their rear-guard, they formed into a compact 

 mass, which looked like a serpent twisting about to 

 avoid the bird of prey ; and when the danger was 

 over, or the enemy had seized his victims in his 

 clutches, the column resumed its march through the 

 blue fields of air. 



During the three days of my sta}^ at Hartford, 

 the population was under arms. INIen and boys 

 all carried double or single-barrelled guns, and la}' 

 hid behind woods, rocks, and wherever there was a 

 chance of a shot. Prodigious quantities were killed 

 by these means, and every evening the conversation 

 ran principall}' on the pigeon-shooting, or the events 

 of the different shots, and on the chances of the 

 morrow. During these three days, nothing was 

 eaten but pigeons, and the air was so impregnated 

 with the odour of these birds, that the whole neigh- 

 bourhood smelt like a dove-cot. An arithmetician 

 of the vicinity made an approximate calculation as 

 to the number of individual birds of which these 

 extraordinary hosts are composed, and of the enor- 

 mous quantity of food required for their sustenance. 

 Wilson, the celebrated ornithologist, also made a 

 similar calculation with very astonishing results. 

 He relates having witnessed one of their migrations, 



