PASSENGER PIGEONS. 99 



bling, caused by astonishment and cold, for the 

 displacement of the air caused a perceptibly strong 

 atmospheric current. All this while, the long 

 shovels were knocking over the birds by thousands. 

 The torches had been lit as if by magic, and I was 

 witness to an extraordinar}^ spectacle. The pigeons 

 came in millions, swarming like bees in May. The 

 noise was so great, that you could scarcely hear the 

 frequent discharges of the guns. The massacre 

 lasted for several hours. 



It is a noticeable fact that^ in spite of the terror 

 which they felt, the pigeons did not abandon their 

 favourite roosting-place ; and that neither the noise, 

 nor the torches, nor the firing could make them do 

 so. A man who came to jom the partj^ assured us 

 that he could hear the disturbance a league and a 

 quarter off. At break of day, the flocks of pigeons 

 started once more in search of their daily bread ; 

 the noise they made in taking flight was tremen- 

 dous. The sportsmen then began to select from 

 the heaps of dead and dying the finest and fattest 

 bii-ds, which they heaped up upon carts, leaving the 

 rubbish for the pigs and dogs. For me, although I 

 had taken my part in the massacre, I only took for 

 my share a magnificent eagle's feather, which I had 

 shot from one of those birds of prey, as he perched 

 upon a heap of carcases. 



Two mouths after this memorable adventure, I 

 was on the East Eiver Quay, New York, when my 



n 2 



