2 PASSENGER PIGEON. 



of the river were also met with in the interior of Louisiana, 

 by colonel Pike; and extend their range as far south as the gulf 

 of Mexico; occasionally visiting or breeding in almost every 

 quarter of the United States. 



But the most remarkable characteristic of these birds is their 

 associating together, both in their migrations, and also during 

 the period of incubation, in such prodigious numbers as almost 

 to surpass belief; and which has no parallel among any other 

 of the feathered tribes, on the face of the earth, with which 

 naturalists are acquainted. 



These migrations appear to be undertaken rather in quest of 

 food, than merely to avoid the cold of the climate; since we find 

 them lingering in the northern regions around Hudson's Bay 

 so late as December; and since their appearance is so casual and 

 irregular; sometimes not visiting certain districts for several 

 years in any considerable numbers, while at other times they 

 are innumerable. I have witnessed these migrations in the Ge- 

 nessee country often in Pennsylvania, and also in various parts 

 of Virginia, with amazement; but all that I had then seen of them 

 were mere straggling parties, when compared with the congre- 

 gated millions which I have since beheld in our western for- 

 ests, in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory. 

 These fertile and extensive regions abound with the nutritious 

 beech nut, which constitutes the chief food of the Wild Pigeon. 

 In seasons when these nuts are abundant, corresponding multi- 

 tudes of Pigeons may be confidently expected. It sometimes 

 happens that having consumed the whole produce of the beech 

 trees in an extensive district, they discover another at the dis- 

 tance perhaps of sixty or eighty miles, to which they regularly 

 repair every morning, and return as regularly in the course of 

 the day, or in the evening, to their place of general rendezvous, 

 or as it is usually called the roosting place. These roosting 

 places are always in the woods, and sometimes occupy a large 

 extent of forest. When they have frequented one of these pla- 

 ces for some time, the appearance it exhibits is surprising. The 

 ground is covered to the depth of several inches with their dung; 



