The Zoologist— August, 1869. 1793 



arevagiiig 180 square miles; and allowing two pigeons to the square 

 yard, we have one billion one hundred and fifteen millions, one hun- 

 dred and thirty-six thousand pigeons in one flock ; and, as every 

 I)igeon consumes fully half-a-piut per day, the quantity required to 

 feed such a flock must be eight millions seven hundred and twelve 

 thousand bushels per day. Audubon thus describes the appearance 

 of the pigeons at one of their roosting places : ' The sun was lost to 

 our view, yet not a pigeon had arrived ; but suddenly there burst forth 

 a general cry of. Here ihey come ! The noise they made, though yet 

 distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea passing through the rigging 

 of a close-reefed vessel. As the birds arrived, and passed over me, 

 1 felt a current of air that surprised me : thousands were soon knocked 

 down by the men provided with poles. The current of birds, how- 

 ever, kept still increasing; the fires were lighted, and a most magni- 

 ficent, as well as a wonderful and terrifying, sight presented itself. 

 The pigeons, coming in by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above 

 another, until solid masses of them resembling hanging swarms of 

 bees, as large as hogsheads, were formed on every tree iu all directions. 

 Here and there the perches gave way under the weight with a crksh, 

 and, falling to the ground, destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, 

 forcing down the dense groups with which every stick was loaded. 

 It was a scene of uproar and confusion ; I found it quite useless to 

 speak, or even to shout, to those persons nearest me. The reports, 

 even of the nearest guns, were seldom heard ; and I knew only of the 

 firing by seeing the shooter reloading. No person dared venture 

 within the line of devastation : the hogs had been penned up in due 

 time, the picking up of the dead and wounded being left for the next 

 morning's employment. Still the pigeons were constantly coming ; 

 and it was past midnight before I perceived a decrease in the number 

 of those that arrived: the uproar continued, however, the whole night; 

 and, as I was anxious to know what distance the sound reached, I sent 

 off" a man accustomed to perambulate the forest, who, returning two 

 hours afterwards, informed me he had heard it distinctly when three 

 miles from the spot. Towards the approach of day, the noise rather 

 subsided, but long ere objects were at all distingishable the pigeons 

 began to move off" in a direction quite difTerent from that in which they 

 had arrived the evening before ; and at sunrise all that were able to 

 fly had disappeared. The bowlings of the wolves now reached our 

 ears; and the foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, racoons, opossums and 

 polecats, were seen sneaking off from the spot, whilst eagles and 



SECOND SKIUES — VOL. IIL 2 R 



