194 Mr. Peabody on the A A r 
The accounts of the breeding places of the pigeons | 
at the west are almost incredible. Some of them — 
extend several miles, covering thousands of acres; ^x 
the grass and underwood is all destroyed; the - z^ T 
ground overspread with limbs, broken down with TEE 
the weight of the birds clustering upon them, ÉL * 
the trees killed as completely as if girdled with the © s 
axe. When the young are fully grown, but have a, 
not yet left the nest, a general invasion is made 
upon the spot. Hawks and eagles snatch them 
. from above; hogs devour the thousands that fall to í i 
the ground ; the axe-men cut down the trees most xl 
loaded with nests, and the crash of falling timber $ 
mingles with the thundering roar of the wings of | 
ten thousand pigeons. One large tree, as it de- | 
scends, often brings down several others, and two | 
hundred squabs have been gathered by means of a 
single fall. The multitudes of birds are continually 
breaking down large branches with their weight, so 
that it is dangerous to walk below. 
There is some disagreement in the accounts given 
of their breeding. Wilson maintained that there was 
but a single young one in a nest ; while Audubon 
asserts that there are two. The prodigious numbers 
of the birds would seem to confirm the statement 
of the latter. The young come to maturity in six 
months. Every year they, at least, double their 
numbers. 
One office of the pigeon seems to be to protect the 
oak forests. It is stated, on excellent authority, 
that for some years after they have occupied a par- 
ticular spot as their breeding place, the oaks, for 
