98 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



deserted during the day, every evening it was filled 

 with pigeons, which came from the State of Indiana, 

 where they had passed the day, near the village of 

 Coridon, about fifty leagues distant. Next morning 

 at dawn, they would fly off in the same direction. 

 All round the roosting-place, the soil was covered 

 with a kind of guano, from two to three inches deep. 

 To look at the verdureless soil covered with a grey- 

 ish tint, the denuded trees, the barkless and sap- 

 less branches, one would have thought that it was 

 the middle of winter, or that a tornado had stripped 

 all the branches off the trees, and burnt up the 

 herbage in the neighbourhood. 



The sportsmen were making ready for the evening's 

 sport, and everything was in a state of preparation. 

 Some were stuffing sulphur into stink-pots ; others 

 were getting ready long poles like bakers' shovels, 

 with torches made of resin and pine branches at 

 the end; others had ready single and double-bar- 

 relled guns, each loaded with a good charge of 

 powder and shot. As the sun set, each took his 

 place in silence. Not a bird was to be seen ; but 

 presently I heard the words whispered round : 

 " Here they come ! " 



The sky, indeed, was darkened by the flight of 

 the pigeons, and the noise of their wings was like 

 that terrible mistral that is to be met with in the 

 gorges of the Apennines. As the column of 

 pigeons flew over my head, I felt a kind of trem- 



