4- 



324 PASSENGER PIGEON. 



a general cry of " Here they come !" The noise which they made, 

 though yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, passing through 

 the rigging of a close-reefed vessel. As the birds arrived and passed 

 over me, I felt a current of air that surprised me. Thousands were soon 

 knocked down by the pole-men. The birds continued to pour in. The 

 fires were lighted, and a magnificent, as well as wonderful and almost 

 terrifying, sight presented itself. The Pigeons, arriving by thousands, 

 alighted everywhere, one above another, until solid masses as large as 

 hoffsheads were formed on the branches all round. Here and there the 

 perches gave way under the weight with a crash, and, falling to the ground, 

 destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the dense groups 

 with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar and con- 

 fusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even to shout to those per- 

 sons who were nearest to me. Even the reports of the guns were seldom 

 heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing the shooters 

 reloading. 



No one dared venture within the line of devastation. The hogs had 

 been penned up in due time, the picking up of the dead and wounded 

 being left for the next morning's employment. The Pigeons were con- 

 stantly coming, and it was past midnight before I perceived a decrease 

 in the number of those that arrived. The uproar continued the whole 

 night ; and as I was anxious to know to what distance the sound reach- 

 ed, I sent off a man, accustomed to perambulate the forest, who, return- 

 ing two hours afterwards, informed me he had heard it distinctly when 

 three miles distant from the spot. Towards the approach of day, the 

 noise in some measure subsided, long before objects were distinguishable, 

 the Pigeons began to move off in a direction quite different from that in 

 which they had arrived the evening before, and at sunrise all that were 

 able to fly had disappeared. The bowlings of the wolves now reached 

 our ears, and the foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, raccoons, oppossums and 

 pole-cats were seen sneaking off, whilst eagles and hawks of different 

 species, accompanied by a crowd of vultures, came to supplant them, 

 and enjoy their share of the spoil. 



It was then that the authors of all this devastation began their entry 

 amongst the dead, the dying, and the mangled. The pigeons were 

 picked up and piled in heaps, until each had as many as he could possi- 

 bly dispose of, when the hogs were let loose to feed on the remainder. 



Persons unacquainted with these birds might naturally conclude that 



