miles. Again, supposing that each 

 square yard comprehended three pig- 

 eons, the square yards of the whole 

 space, multiplied by three, would give 

 2,230,272,000 pigeons, an inconceivable 

 multitude, but probably far below the 

 actual numbers. Computing each to 

 consume a half pint daily, the whole 

 quantity would equal 17,424,000 bushels 

 a day." 



The rate iof flight here estimated 

 (60 miles per hour) is much less than 

 the regulation pigeon flight, which 

 usually exceeded 100 miles an hour. 



The latter statement of the amount 

 of food necessary to supply this phen- 

 omenal aggregation supports my con- 

 tention that failure of food supply was 

 a chief factor in their final decrease. 



Audubon, in his "American Ornitho- 

 logical Biography," added many new 

 facts to Wilson's notes, among which 

 We might note some habits of flight 

 and feeding. 



"It is extremely interesting to see 

 flock after flock performing exactly 

 the same evolutions in the air as those 

 performed by a preceeding flock. Thus 

 should a hawk have charged on a 

 group at a certain spot, the angles, 

 curves and undulations described by 

 the birds in their efforts to escape the 

 dreaded talons of the plunderers, are 

 undeviatingly followed by the follow- 

 ing group." 



After describing the caution of the 

 birds in lighting at a feeding ground, 

 he says: 



"Hunger soon brings them to the 

 ground. , When alighted they are seen 

 industriously throwing up the withered 

 leaves in their quest for fallen mast 

 The rear ranks continually rising, 

 passing over the main body and alight- 

 ing in front in such rapid succession 

 that the whole flock seem still on the 

 wing. The quantity of ground swept 

 is astonishing, and sio completely has 

 it been cleared, that the gleaner who 

 might follow in their rear would find 

 his labor completely lost." 



This remarkable flight character 

 can be but explained in that the 

 marvellous unanimity of action on the 

 part of these millions of birds in one 

 or many flocks for many generations 

 had brought them to an intellectual 

 condition, if we may use the term, in 

 which every individual of a flock and 

 every flock of a flight unconsciously 

 and almost involuntarily acted as a 

 part of an immense machine guided 

 by a single mind or thought, while T 

 am of opinion that it was this very 

 automatic condition which became the 

 birds' worst enemy, since with change 

 of conditions the bird was without 

 resources, and as a machine with a 

 fouled belt it became its own des- 

 troyer. 



The early records of the birds in 

 Eastern Canada in later years corro- 



borate the statements of Wilson and 

 Audubon in almost every particular, 

 and one acquainted with the timbered 

 conditions of the country to the im- 

 mediate west of the Red River valley 

 and north of the American boundary 

 line, can readily appreciate the utt*r 

 inadequacy of an acceptable food 

 supply for these countless millions of 

 pigeons, and we can also readily un- 

 derstand how very soon the breaking 



ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIA. 

 (From a drawing by "Wilson about 1800, where 

 characteristic wing and tail length is 

 shown.) 



up of the original hardwood forests 

 of Eastern Canada would tend to de- 

 crease the visible food supply and 

 cause these hungry millions to seek 

 new pastures. 



The breaking of these feeding 

 grounds would first be instrumental 

 in scattering or breaking up the lar- 

 gest flocks, and even the very long 

 distances the bird was able to tly 

 from breeding to feeding ground 

 would be exceeded, necessitating next 

 the nesting in smaller colonies, where 

 careless nesting habits with continued 

 changing conditions would tend to 

 continue the decline of their numbers, 

 while the tenacity with which even 

 the smaller roosts were clung to by 

 man like leeches to a frog, and the 

 hapless victims shot, netted and! stolen 

 from the nest before maturity, was 

 but another effectual and not the least 

 responsible agent in the relegation of 

 the pigeon to that past from which 

 none return. 



