1.38 Flight, ^c. of Pigeons. 



with nests, and contrived to fell them in such a manner, that in their 

 descent they might bring down several others ; by which means the 

 falling of one large tree sometimes produced two hundred squabs, 

 little inferior in size to the old ones, and almost one mass of fat. On 

 some single trees upwards of one hundred nests were found, each 

 containing one young only, a circumstance in the history of this bird 

 not generally known to naturalists. It was dangerous to walk under 

 these flying and fluttering millions, from the frequent fall of large 

 branches, broken down by the weight of the multitudes above, and 

 which in their descent often destroyed numbers of the birds them- 

 selves ; while the clothes of those engaged in traversing the woods 

 were completely covered with the excrements of the pigeons. 



These circumstances were related to me by many of the most 

 respectable part of the community in that quarter j and were con- 

 firmed in part by what I myself witnessed, I passed for several 

 miles through this same breeding place, where every tree was spot- 

 ted with nests, the remains of those above described. In many in- 

 stances I counted upwards of ninety nests on a single tree; but the 

 pigeons had abandoned this place for another, sixty or eighty miles 

 off towards Green river, where they were said at that time to be 

 equally numerous. From the great numbers that were constantly 

 passing over head to or from that quarter, I had no doubt of the 

 truth of this statement. The mast had been chiefly consumed in 

 Kentucky, and the pigeons, every morning a little before sunrise, 

 set out for the Indiana territory, the nearest part of which was about 

 sixty miles distant. Many of these returned before ten o'clock, and 

 the great body generally appeared on their return a little after noon. 



I had left the public road to visit the remains of the breeding 

 place near Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with my gun, 

 on my way to Frankfort, when about one o'clock the pigeons, which 

 I had observed flying the greater part of the morning northerly, be- 

 gan to return in such immense numbers as! never before had wit- 

 nessed. Coming to an opening by the side of a creek called the 

 Benson, where I had a more uninterrupted view, I was astonished 

 at their appearance. They were flying with great steadiness and 

 rapidity, at a height beyond gun shot, in several strata deep, and 

 so close together that could shot have reached them, one discharge 

 could not have failed of bringing down several individuals. From 

 right to left far as the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast pro- 

 cession extended ; seeming every where equally crowded. Curious 



