BIRDS OF KANSAS. 239 



fact that Pigeons are captured in the State of New York with 

 their crops still filled with the undigested grains of rice that 

 must have been taken in the distant fields of Georgia or South 

 Carolina, apparently proving that they must have passed over 

 the intervening space within a very few hours. Audubon esti- 

 mates the rapidity of their flight as at least a mile a minute. 



"The Wild Pigeons are said to move, in their flight, by 

 quickly-repeated flaps of the wings, which are brought more or 

 less near to the body, according to the degree of velocity re- 

 quired. During the love season they often fly in a circling 

 manner, supporting themselves with both wings angularly ele- 

 vated. Before alighting they break the force of their flight by 

 repeated flappings. 



"Their great powers of flight, and the ability thus given to 

 change at will their residence, and their means of renewing a 

 supply of food, are also thought to be seconded by a remarkable 

 power of vision, enabling them to discover their food with great 

 readiness. Mr. Audubon states that he has observed flocks of 

 these birds, in passing over a sterile part of the country, fly high 

 in the air, with an extended front, enabling them to survey hun- 

 dreds of acres at once. When the land is richly covered with 

 food, or the trees well supplied with mast, they fly low in order 

 to discover the part most plentifully supplied. 



"In its movements on the ground, as also when alighted on 

 the branches of trees, the Wild Pigeon is remarkable for its ease 

 and grace. It walks on the ground and also on the limbs of 

 trees with an easy, graceful motion, frequently jerking its tail 

 and moving its neck backward and forward. 



"Mr. Audubon states that in Kentucky he has repeatedly 

 visited one of the remarkable roosting-places to which these 

 birds resort at night. This one was on the banks of Green 

 River, and to this place the birds came every night at sunset, 

 arriving from all directions, some of them from the distance of 

 several hundred miles, as was conjectured from certain observa- 

 tions. The roost was in a portion of the forest where the trees 

 were of great magnitude. It was more than forty miles in 

 length, and averaged three in breadth. It had been occupied 



