r rut: I'ASSENOBR PIGEON. 187 



"As soon as tin- ymiiiir were fully crown, ami U-fm-.- lli.-\ left tin- nests, numerous parties 

 of tin- inhabitant-, from all jwirt.s of tin- adjacent countn, came with wagons, oxen, beds, 

 cooking utensils, many ..f them accompanied l>y the greater part of llifir families, and 

 . -in ani]H>l for -e\eral da\s at this immense nm-i\ >. -\.-nil of them informed me that the 

 noise in tin- wood- .. . .iv [,, terrifx their horses, and that it was ditlicult for one 



person to hear another >|--ak \\ithoiit bawling in his ear. 



"Tin- ground u:ls strewed with broken limbs ( ,f trees, eggs, and young squab pigeons 

 which had Ixi-n precipitated from al.o\e. :m<l on which herds of hogs were fattening. Hawks, 

 buzzards, and eagles were sailing alx.ut in great numlicrs. and seizing the squab- from thi-ir 

 nests :it plea-ure ; while from twenty feet upwards to the top of tin- trees, the view through the 



woods presented a ].,.. j,. :.;,: ta at evowdtai md BvttariBf mfttadai <rf pigi-ous, tii.-ir 



\sings roaring like thunder, mingli**! with the fn*i|uent cni.sh of fulling timlxT. For now tin- 

 ax. ni' M wre at work cutting dou those trees w hirh stt-med to U- most noded with ne-t.s, 

 and contriving to fell them in such a manner that in their dt-M-ent they might bring down 

 HTOnl Othent j > " I'i. h m<-.ins th< : illin^ !' DIM huge life sometimes ]!... In, -.-d (wo hundr.-d 

 s<iu:il>s, little inferim- in >i/.e t> the old ones, and almost one mass of fat. 



"On some single trees upwards of one hundred neste were found, each containing on 

 young only, a cirrumstance in the hi-tcry of this bin! not generally known to naturalists. It 

 was dangerous to walk under these Hying and fluttering millions, from the frequent fall of 

 large brunches, broken down by the weight of the multitudes al>o\e, and which, in their 

 des,-,.|ii. c.ft.-'i <|.-M..\. >: n ,ni!.. :- .:' HM I'iid- I ii.-m^'h -. 



" I had left the public road to visit the remains of the breeding-place, near 8helbyville, 

 and was traversing the woods with my gun, on my way to Frankfort, when, ubout one o'clock, 

 the pigeons which I had observed flying the greater part of the morning northerly, began to 

 return in such immense numbers as I never l>efore had witnessed. Coming to an opening by 

 the side of a creek called the Ilenson. I was astonished at their ap|>earance. 



"They were flying with great steadiness and rapidity, at a height lieyond gunshot, in 

 several strata deep, and so close together that could shot have reached them, one discharge 

 would not have failed of bringing down several individuals. From right to left, as far as 

 the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast procession extended, seeming everywhere equally 

 crowded. 



" Curious to determine how long this appearance would continue. I took out my watch to 

 note the time, and sat down to observe them. It was then half-past one. I sat for more than 

 an hour, 1-ut instead of a diminution of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather to increase 

 both in numbers and rapidity ; and anxious to reach Frankfort before night, I rose and went 

 on. About four o'clock in the afternoon. I crossed the Kentucky river, at the town of Frank- 

 fort, at which time the living torrent above my head seemed as numerous and as extenshe 

 as ever. The great breadth of front which this mighty multitude preserved would seem to 

 intimate a corresponding breadth of their breeding-place, which by several gentlemen who had 

 lately juissed through part of it, was stated to me at several miles." 



A few observations on the mode of flight of these birds must not !* omitted. 



" The appearance of large detached bodies of them in the air. and the various evolution;- 

 they display, are strikingly picturesque and interesting. In descending the Ohio l.y myself in 

 the month of February. I often rested on my oars to contemplate their aerial manoeuvres. 



"A column, eight or ten miles in length, would appear from Kentucky, high in air. s>. 

 ing over to Indiana. The leaders of this great lx>dy would sometimes gradually vary their 

 course, until it formed a large bend of more than a mile in diameter, those behind tracing the 

 exact route of their predecessors. This would continue sometimes long after Imth extreme 

 were beyond the reach of sight ; so that the whole, with its ^littering undulations, mai-k^l a 

 space on the face of the heavens resembling the windings of a \\ost and majestic rh'-r. When 

 this bend became very irreat. the birds, as if sensible of the unnecessarily circuitous course 

 they w.-re takiiiir. suddenly changed their direction, so that what was in column liefore became 

 an immense front, straightening all its indentures until it swept the heavens in one vast and 

 infinitely extended line. 



