THE OHIO DISTRICT 215 



the lake. According to soundings which I have made, 

 there are portions of Erie and the other great lakes 

 where there are extensive areas similar to this, for not 

 the slightest variation in the depth of the soundings could 

 be detected. 



This rough description of the country will suffice. 

 Only the particular spots I have to describe need a more 

 minute description. Nearly all the small birds and 

 mammals mentioned in the account of the North-West 

 and Canada are found in this State, some more abundantly, 

 others much less so, than in those regions. But there is 

 one bird of larger size that was formerly so abundant in 

 this State, and bred here in such vast numbers, that I 

 consider that I am justified in considering Ohio as its 

 headquarters. That bird, so far as its general history, at 

 all events, is concerned, is one of the most interesting of 

 all American birds. I refer to the passenger pigeon, 

 Edopistes migratoi^ius or migratoria, as American natural- 

 ists spell it. An immense amount of matter about 

 this bird has been written, and it is famous in both 

 history and fiction ; and as may well be believed, in 

 such circumstances, all is not correct that has been 

 recorded of it. This is my justification for adding my 

 mite to a subject already almost exhausted ; and the fact 

 that I cannot find a popular work on Natural History in 

 which there is a good and correct account of this bird. 



In this part of America — that is, the countries border- 

 ing on the southern shores of Lakes Erie, Huron, and 

 Michigan ; in other Avords, the northern parts of the States 

 of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, &c. — the 

 woods consist largely, sometimes almost entirely, of 

 beech trees, and ;the beech mast, as the seeds are called, 

 attracts immense numbers of birds (as well as small 

 mammals) which are not found so abundantly in other 

 parts of the States. Amongst these birds the passenger- 

 pigeon holds the foremost place. 



Probably no bird, large or small, not even starlings, 



