TASSENGER TIGEONS. 101 



and give him half a dollar to help me cany the 

 game to tliQ steamer for New York. 



The American pigeons are to be fomid, more or 

 less, in all parts of the States, but usually these 

 birds select retired and unfrequented woods on the 

 boundaries which separate the back-woods from 

 civilisation. Tlie hatching season offers a singular 

 contrast to the scenes of noise and confusion which 

 I have described. If my readers will then go with 

 me into the forests of the Ohio and the Mississippi, 

 they will hear incessant cooings, and be witnesses 

 to the constant proofs of affectionate attention 

 which the male pigeon lavishes upon his spouse. 

 Overhead, in the tops of the trees, they will see the 

 nests, built close to each other, made of twigs of 

 trees interlaced, in which the male and female sit, 

 in turn, upon two or three eggs. The male mounts 

 guard to protect his spouse, and he sallies forth to 

 get provisions, and returns to place himself on the 

 nest and shelter the eggs under his wings. 



Fortunately for the birds, this affectionate solicitude 

 is frequently rewarded, but woe to the poor pigeons 

 if the settlers of the neighbourhood discover their 

 hiding-places. From this, as from all that I have 

 written, it will be perceived that destruction menaces 

 this kind of game. In proportion as civilisation 

 extends its boundaries over the vast deserts of the 

 West, the necessities of man become more nume- 

 rous, and the human race, which tyrannises every- 



