PASSENGER PIGEON. 3 



all the tender grass and underwood destroyed ; the surface strew- 

 ed with large limbs of trees broken down by the weight of the 

 birds clustering one above another; and the trees themselves, 

 for thousands of acres, killed as completely as if girdled with 

 an axe. The marks of this desolation remain for many years on 

 the spot; and numerous places could be pointed out where for 

 several years after, scarce a single vegetable made its appearance. 



When these roosts are first discovered, the inhabitants from 

 considerable distances visit them in the night, with guns, clubs, 

 long poles, pots of sulphur, and various other engines of destruc- 

 tion. In a few hours they fill many sacks, and load their horses 

 with them. By the Indians, a Pigeon roost, or breeding place, 

 is considered an important source of national profit and depen- 

 dence for that season; and all their active ingenuity is exercised 

 on the occasion. The breeding place differs from the former in 

 its greater extent. In the western countries above mentioned, 

 these are generally in beech woods, and often extend in nearly 

 a straight line across the country for a great way. Not far from 

 Shelby ville in the state of Kentucky, about five years ago, there 

 was one of these breeding places, which stretched through the 

 woods in nearly a north and south direction, was several miles 

 in breadth, and was said to be upwards of forty miles in extent! 

 In this tract almost every tree was furnished with nests, wher- 

 ever the branches could accommodate them. The Pigeons 

 made their first appearance there about the tenth of April, and 

 left it altogether, with their young, before the twenty-fifth of 

 May. 



As soon as the young were fully grown, and before they left 

 the nests, numerous parties of the inhabitants, from all parts of 

 the adjacent country, came with wagons, axes, beds, cooking 

 utensils, many of them accompanied by the greater part of their 

 families, and encamped for several days at this immense nursery. 

 Several of them informed me, that the noise in the woods was 

 so great as to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult for 

 one person to hear another speak without bawling in his ear. 

 The ground was strewed with broken limbs of trees, eggs, and 



