V. If. Men'imn — Itinfs i>f ( ',>innr(l,-,it. 07 



aliglitrd everywhere, ime above aiiollier, until solid masses were 

 formed on tlie brandies all aroun<l. Here and there the perches <;ave 

 way under the weight with a crash, and, falling to the <;i(>uMd, de- 

 stroyed luindreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the (K-nse groups 

 with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of u|>roar and 

 confusion. I found it (juite useless to speak, or even to shout to 

 those persons who were nearest to me. Even the re])orts of the guns 

 were seldom heard, and I was made aware of llie firing only bv 



seeing the shooters reloading The Pigeons were constantly 



coming, and it was past midniglit before I perceived a decrease in 



the number of those that arrived Towards the approach of 



day the noise in some measure sid)sided ; long before objects were 

 distinguisliable the Pigeons began to move off in a direction quite 

 diflerent from that in which they had arrived the evening before ; 

 and at sunrise all that were able to fly liad disappeared. The how 1- 

 ing of the wolves now reached our ears, and the foxes, lynxes, cou- 

 gars, bears, racoons, opossums, and pole-cats were seen sneaking of!*, 

 whilst Eagles and Hawks of different species, accompanied by a 

 crowd of Vultures, came to supplant them, and enjoy their share of 

 the spoil." Two farmers, "distant more than a hundred miles, had 

 driven upwards of three hundred pigs to be fattened on the Pigeons 

 which were to be slaughtered."* 



" Audubon attempts to reckon the number of Pigeons in one of 

 these flocks, and the daily quantity of food consumed by it. lie 

 takes, as an example, a column of one mile in breadth, and su})poses 

 it passing over us, without interruption, for three hours, at the rate 

 of one mile per minute. This will give us a parallelogram of 180 

 miles by 1, averaging 180 square miles; and allowing two Pigeons 

 to the square yard, we have one billion one hundivd and fifteen mil- 

 lions one hundred and thirty-six thousand Pigeons in one fiock : ,iii<l 

 as every Pigeon consumes fully half a pint i)er day, the quantity 

 required to feed such a flock must be eight millions seven hundred 

 and twelve thousand bushels per day !"t 



"Indeed, for a time," Nuttall correctly remarks, "in many places 

 nothing scarcely is seen, talked of, or eaten, but Pigeons!" 



* The Birds of America, by John James Audubon, vol. v, pp. 2',»-:!0. 

 f Wilson, ibid, Appendix, vol. iv, p. 32:i 

 Trans. Conn. Ac.\d., Vol. IY. 13 Aug., 1877. 



