254 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



It certainly seems remarkable that a bird should 

 have the power of flying over 4000 miles of sea; 

 but recently two different writers have recorded the 

 fact that they have noticed pigeons settle upon 

 the water to drink and then rise from it with apparent 

 ease. And Mr Darwin says that where the banks of 

 the Nile are perpendicular whole flocks of pigeons 

 have been seen to settle on the river and drink while 

 they floated down stream. He adds that, seen from 

 a distance, they resembled flocks of gulls on the 

 surface of the sea. 



The passenger pigeon is one of the handsomest of 

 its kind. The accounts of its migrations in search 

 of food are known to all. It is said to move in such 

 flocks as to darken the earth as they pass over, and 

 that one of these columns brings devastation wher- 

 ever it comes. 



