"The roosting places are always in 

 the woods, and sometimes occupy a 

 large extent of forest. "When they 

 have frequented one of these places 

 for a while the appearance it exhibits 

 is surprising . The ground is cov- 

 ered for a depth of several inches 

 with their dung; all the tender 

 grass and underwood destroyed; the 

 surface strewn with large limbs of 

 trees, broken down by the weight of 

 the birds collecting one above anoth- 

 er; and the trees themselves killed as 

 completely as though girdled with an 

 axe. The marks of their desolation re- 

 main for many years and numerous 

 places could be pointed out several 

 years after where scarcely a single 

 vegetable had made its appearance. 

 When these roosts are first discovered 

 the inhabitants for considerable dis- 

 tances visit them in the night with 

 guns, clubs, long poles, pots of sul- 

 phur, and various other engines of de- 

 struction.. In a few hours they fill 

 many sacks and load horses with 

 them. * * * * * * * 



"By the Indians a pigeon roost is 

 considered an important source of na- 

 tional profit and dependence for that 

 season, and all their active ingenuity 

 is exercised on the occasion. * * * 



"Not far from Shelbyville, in the 

 state of Kentucky, about five years 

 ago, there was one of these breeding 

 places, which stretched through the 

 woods in nearly a north and south 

 direction, was several miles in breadth 

 and upwards of forty miles in ex- 

 tent. ' In this tract almost every tree 

 was filled with nests wherever the 

 branches could accommodate them. 

 The pigeons made their appearance 

 about April 10th and left it altogether 

 with their young by May 25. As soon 

 as the young were fully grown, and 

 before they had left the nests, numer- 

 ous parties of the inhabitants from all 

 parts of the adjacent country came 

 with wagons, axes, beds, cooking uten- 

 sils, many of them accompanied by the 

 greater part of their families, and en- 

 camped for several days at the im- 

 mense nursery. Several of them in- 

 formed me that the noise 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 young 

 squab pigeons, which had been precip- 

 itated from above and upon which 

 herds of hogs were fattening. Hawks, 

 buzzards and eagles were sailing about 

 ? n great numbers, seizing the squabs 

 from the nests at pleasure, while from 

 twenty feet upward to the tops of the 

 trees, the view through the woods pre- 

 sented a perpetual tumult of crowding 

 and fluttering multitudes of pigeons, 

 their wings roaring like thunder, min- 



gled with the frequent crash of fall- 

 ing timber, for now the axemen were 

 at work cutting down those trees 

 which seemed to be most crowded with 

 nests, and contriving to fell them in 

 such a manner that they might bring 

 down several others, by which means 

 the falling of one tree sometimes pro- 

 duced 200 squabs, little inferior to the 

 old ones in size amd almost one heap 

 of fat. On one single tree upwards 

 of a hundred nests were found. * * * 

 It was dangerous to walk under these 

 fluttering millions, because of the 

 frequent fall of large branches, broken 

 down by the multitudes above, and 

 which in their descent often destroy- 

 ed numbers of the birds themselves." 



Following upon this recital, Wilson 

 then describes the fight of these birds 

 to and from the feeding ground: 



"The mast had been chiefly consum- 

 ed in Kentucky, and the pigeons every 

 morning a little before sunrise set out 

 for the Indian Territory, the nearest 

 point of which was distant about sixty 

 miles. Many of these returned before 

 ten o'clock, the great body generally 

 appearing on their return shortly af- 

 ter noon. * * * Coming to an open- 

 ing by the side of a creek where I had 

 a more uninterrupted view, I was as- 

 tonished at their appearance. They 

 were flying- with great rapidity at a 

 height beyond gunshot, several strata 

 deep and so close together that could 

 shot have reached them, one discharge 

 could not have failed to bring down 

 several birds. From right to left, as 

 far as the eye could reach, the breadth 

 of this vast flock extended, seeming 

 everywhere equally crowded. Curious 

 to note, how long this flight would 

 continue, I took out my watch, and 

 sat down to observe them. It was 

 then half-past one, and I sat for more 

 than an hour, but instead of diminu- 

 tion, this prodigious procession seem- 

 ed rather to increase both in numbers 

 and rapidity, and anxious to reach 

 Frankfort before night, I rose and 

 went on. About four o'clock in the 

 afternoon, I crossed Kentucky river, 

 at the town of Frankfort, at which 

 time the living torrent above seemed 

 as numerous and extensive as ever. 

 Dong after this, I observed them in 

 large bodies, that continued to pass 

 for six or eight minutes, and these 

 were followed by other detached bodies 

 all moving in the same southeast di- 

 rection until after six o'clock in the 

 evening." 



Following this he attempts an esti- 

 mate of the numbers, of this night 

 flock: 



"If we suppose this column to have 

 been one mile in breadth (I believe it 

 was much more), and that it moved 

 at the rate of one mile a minute for 

 four hours, the time it continued pass- 

 ing, would make the whole length 240 



