THE PIGEON. 



121 



wild state, in the woods, are by no means so 

 fruitful as those in our pigeon- houses nearer 

 home. The power of increase in most birds 

 depends upon the quantity of their food ; and 

 it is seen, in more than one instance, that 

 man, by supplying food in plenty, and allow- 

 ing the animal at the same time a proper 

 share of freedom, has brought some of those 

 kinds which are known to lay but once a year, 

 to become much more prolific. 



The tame pigeon, and all its beautiful 

 varieties, derive their orgin from one species, 



they can inspect the country below them with facility, 

 and easily perceive the food they are in quest of. In 

 Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, the largest flocks of these 

 wild pigeons are seen. Wilson's description of the my- 

 riad flocks of these pigeons has often been quoted. His 

 successor, Audubon, in a paper read before the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh, gives the following description 

 of them. 



The most important facts, he says, connected with the 

 habits of these birds relate to their extraordinary associa- 

 tions and migrations. No other species known to natur- 

 alists is more calculated to attract the attention of either 

 the citizen or the stranger, as he has opportunities of 

 viewing both of these characteristic habits while they 

 are passing from north to south, east and west, and vice 

 versa, over and across the whole extent of the United 

 States of America. 



Their great power of flight enables them when in 

 need, to survey and pass over an astonishing extent of 

 country in a very short time. This is proved by facts 

 known to the greater number of observers in America. 

 Pigeons, for example, have been killed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of New York, with their crops still filled with 

 rice, collected by them in the fields of Georgia and 

 Carolina, the nearest point at which this supply could 

 possibly have been obtained ; and as it is well ascer- 

 tained that, owing to their great power of digestion, 

 they will decompose food entirely in twelve hours, they 

 must have travelled between three hundred and four 

 hundred miles in six hours, making their speed at an 

 average of about one mile in a minute, and this would 

 enable one of these birds, if so inclined, to visit the 

 European continent, as swallows undoubtedly are able to 

 do, in a couple of days. 



Their multitudes in our woods are astonishing; and, 

 indeed, after having viewed them so often, and under so 

 many circumstances, for years, and, I may add, in many 

 different climates, I even now feel inclined to pause, 

 and assure myself afresh that what I am going to relate 

 is fact. That I have seen it is most certain ; and I 

 have seen it all in the company of hundreds of ether 

 persons looking on, like myself, amazed, and wondering 

 if what we saw was really true. 



In the autumn of 1813, I left my house at Hender- 

 son, on the banks of the Ohio, on my way to Louisville. 

 Having met the pigeons flying from north-east to south- 

 vest, in the barrens or natural wastes a few miles be- 

 yond Hardensburgh, in greater apparent numbers than I 

 thought I had ever seen them before, I felt an inclina- 

 tion to enumerate the flocks that would pass within the 

 reach of my eye in one hour. I dismounted, and, seat- 

 ing myself on a tolerable eminence, took my pencil to 

 mark down what I saw going by and over me, and made 

 a dot for every flock which passed. Finding, however 

 that this was next to impossible, and feeling unable to 

 record the flocks, as they multiplied constantly, I rose 

 and counting the dots then put down, discovered that a 

 hundred and sixty-three had been made in twenty-one 

 minutes. I travelled on, and still met more the farthe 



the stock-dove only; the English name, imply- 

 ng its being the stock or stem from whence 

 the other domestic kinds have been propa- 

 gated. 1 This bird, in its natural state, is of a 

 deep bluish ash-colour ; the breast dashed with 

 a fine changeable green and purple ; its wings 

 marked with two black bars; the back white, 

 and the tail barred near the end with black. 

 These are the colours of the pigeon in a state 

 of nature ; and from these simple tints has 

 man by art propagated a variety that words 

 cannot describe, nor even fancy suggest. How- 



I went. The air was literally filled with pigeons; the 

 light of noon-day became dim, as during an eclipse ; the 

 pigeons' dung fell in spots, not unlike melting flakes 

 of snow; and the continued buzz of their wings over 

 me had a tendency to incline my senses to repose. 

 Whilst waiting for my dinner at Young's Inn, at the 

 confluence of Salt river with the Ohio, I saw, at my 

 leisure, immense legions still going by, with a front 

 reaching far beyond the Ohio on the west, and the beech 

 wood forests directly on the east of me. Yet not a single 

 bird would alight ; for not a nut or acorn was that year 

 to be seen in the neighbourhood. They consequently flew 

 so high, that different trials to reach them with a capital 

 rifle proved ineffectual, and not even the report disturbed 

 them in the least. But I cannot describe how beautiful 

 their aerial evolutions were if a black hawk appeared in 

 their rear. At once, like a torrent, and with a thunder- 

 like noise, they formed themselves into almost a solid 

 compact mass, pressing each on each towards the centre ; 

 and when in such solid bodies they zig-zagged to escape 

 the murderous falcon, now down close over the earth, 

 sweeping with inconceivable velocity, then ascending 

 perpendicularly, like a vast monument ; and when high 

 were seen wheeling and twisting within their continued 

 lines, resembling the coils of a gigantic serpent. Before 

 sunset I reached Louisville, distance from Hardensburgh 

 fifty-five miles, where the pigeons were still passing; 

 and this continued for three days in succession. The 

 people were indeed all up in arms, and shooting on all 

 sides at the passing flocks. The banks of the river were 

 crowded with men and children, for here the pigeons flew 

 rather low as they passed the Ohio. This gave a fair 

 opportunity to destroy them in great number. For a 

 week or more the population spoke of nothing but pigeons, 

 and fed on no other flesh but that of pigeons. The 

 whole atmosphere during this time was strongly impreg- 

 nated with the smell appertaining to their species. 



It may not, perhaps, be out of place to attempt an 

 estimate of the number of pigeons contained in one of 

 those mighty flocks, and the quantity of food daily con- 

 sumed by its members. The inquiry will show the asto- 

 nishing bounty of the Creator in his works, and how 

 universally this bounty has been granted to every living 

 thing on that vast continent of America. 



We shall take, for example, a column of one mile in 

 breadth, which is far below the average size, and suppose 

 it passing over us without interruption for three hours, at 

 the rate mentioned above, of one mile per minute. This 

 will give us a parallelogram of one hundred and eighty 

 miles by one, covering one hundred and eighty square 

 miles, and allowing two pigeons to the square yard, we 

 have one billion one hundred and fifteen millions one 

 hundred and thirty-six thousand pigeons in one flock; 

 and as every pigeon consumes fully half a pint of food 

 per day, the quantity must be eight millions seven hun- 

 dred and twelve thousand bushels per day which is re- 

 quired to feed such a flock. 



1 The British domestic pigeons are now supposed to 

 have their origin in the wild rock-pigeon. See Note, ante. 





VOL. II. 



