PASSENGER PIGEON. 321 



I rose, and counting the dots then put down, found that 163 had been 

 made in twenty-one minutes. I travelled on, and still met more the far- 

 ther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons ; the light of 

 noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse ; the dung fell in spots, not un- , 

 like melting flakes of snow ; and the continued buzz of wings had a ten- 

 dency to lull my senses to repose. > 



Whilst waiting for dinner at Young's inn, at the confluence of Salt- 

 River with the Ohio, I saw, at my leisure, immense legions still going 

 by, with a front reaching far beyond the Ohio on the west, and the 

 beech-wood forests directly on the east of me. Not a single bird 

 alighted ; for not a nut or acorn was that year to be seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood. They consequently flew so high, that diff'erent trials to reach 

 them with a capital rifle proved ineffectual ; nor did the reports disturb 

 them in the least. I cannot describe to you the extreme beauty of their 

 aerial evolutions, when a Hawk chanced to press upon the rear of 

 a flock. At once, like a torrent, and with a noise like thunder, they 

 rushed into a compact mass, pressing upon each other towards the centre. 

 In these almost solid masses, they darted forward in undulating and 

 angular lines, descended and swept close over the earth with inconceivable 

 velocity, mounted perpendicularly so as to resemble a vast column, and, 

 when high, were seen wheeling and twisting within their continued lines, 

 which then resembled the coils of a gigantic serpent. ^ 



Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardensburgh fifty- 

 five miles. The Pigeons were still passing in undiminished numbers, 

 and continued to do so for three days in succession. The people were 

 all in arms. The banks of the Ohio were crowded with men and boys, 

 incessantly shooting at the pilgrims, which there flew lower as they passed 

 the river. Multitudes were thus destroyed. For a week or more, the 

 population fed on no other flesh than that of Pigeons, and talked of no^ 

 thing but Pigeons. The atmosphere, during this time, was strongly iui-, ^ 

 pregnated with the peculiar odour which emanates from the species. ^. 



It is extremely interesting to see flock after flock performing exactly 

 the same evolutions which had been traced as it were in the air by a pre- 

 ceding flock. Thus, should a Hawk have charged on a group at a cer- 

 tain spot, the angles, curves, and undulations that have been described by 

 the birds, in their effbrts to escape from the dreaded talons of the plun- 

 derer, are uildeviatingly followed by the next group that comes up; 

 Should the bystander happen to witness one of these afli-ays, and, struck 



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