Flight, ^c. of Pigeons. 137 



by the weight of the birds clustering one above another ; and the 

 trees themselves, for thousands of acres, killed as completely as if 

 girdled with an axe. The marks of this desolation remain for many 

 years on the spot ; and numerous places could be pointed out where 

 for several years after, scarce a single vegetable made its appearance. 



When these roosts are first discovered, the inhabitants from con- 

 siderable distances visit them in the night, with guns, clubs, long 

 poles, pots of sulphur, and various other engines of destruction. In 

 a few hours they fill many sacks, and load their horses with them. 

 By the Indians a pigeon roost, or breeding place, is considered an 

 important source of national profit and dependence for that season ; 

 and all their active ingenuity is exercised on the occasion. The 

 breeding place differs from the former in its greater extent. In the 

 western countries above mentioned, these are generally in beech 

 woods, and often extend in nearly a straight line across the country 

 for a great way. Not far from Shelbyville, in the state of Ken- 

 tucky, about five years ago, there was one of these breeding places, 

 which stretched through the woods in nearly a north and south direc- 

 tion ; was several miles in breadth, and was said to be upwards of 

 forty miles in extent ! In this tract almost every tree was furnished 

 with nests, wherever the branches could accommodate them. The 

 pigeons made their first appearance there about the tenth of April, 

 and left it altogether, with their young, before the twenty fifth of May. 



As soon as the young were fully grown, and before they left the 

 nests, numerous parties of the inhabitants, from all parts of the ad- 

 jacent country, came with waggons, axes, beds, and cooking utensils, 

 many of them accompanied by the greater part of their families, 

 and encamped for several days at this immense nursery. Several 

 of them informed me, that the noise in the woods was so great as 

 to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult for one person to hear 

 another speak without bawling in his ear. The ground was strewed 

 with broken limbs of trees, eggs, and squab pigeons, which had 

 been precipitated from above, and on which herds of hogs were 

 fattening. Hawks, buzzards and eagles were sailing about in great 

 numbers, and seizing the squabs from their nests at pleasure ; while 

 from twenty feet upwards to the tops of the trees, the view through 

 the woods presented a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering 

 multitudes of pigeons, their wings roaring like thunder ; mingled 

 with the frequent crash of falling timber; for now the axe-men were 

 at work cutting down those trees that seemed to be most crowded 



Vol. XXIV.— No. 1. 18 



