PASSENGER PIGEON. 325 



such dreadful havock would soon put an end to the species. But I have 

 satisfied myself, by long observation, that nothing but the gradual dimi- 

 nution of our forests can accomplish their decrease, as they not unfre- 

 quently quadruple their numbers yearly, and always at least double it. 

 In 1805 I saw schooners loaded in bulk with Pigeons caught up the 

 Hudson River, coming in to the wharf at New York, when the birds sold 

 for a cent a piece. I knew a man in Pennsylvania, who caught and 

 killed upwards of 500 dozens in a clap-net in one day, sweeping some-, 

 times twenty dozens or more at a single haul. In the month of March 

 1830, they were so abundant in the markets of New York, that piles of 

 them met the eye in every direction. I have seen the Negroes at the 

 United States' Salines or Saltworks of Shawanee Town, wearied with 

 killing Pigeons, as they alighted to drink the water issuing from the s. 

 leading pipes, for weeks at a time ; and yet in 1826, in Louisiana, I saw 

 congregated flocks of these birds as numerous as ever I had seen them 

 before, during a residence of nearly thirty years in the United States. 

 ; The breeding of the Wild Pigeons, and the places chosen for that 

 purpose, are points of great interest. The time is not much influenced 

 by season, and the place selected is where food is most plentiful and most 

 attainable, and always at a convenient distance from water. Forest-trees 

 of great height are those in which the Pigeons form their nests. Thither 

 the countless myriads resort, and prepare to fulfil one of the great laws 

 of nature. At this period the note of the Pigeon is a soft coo-coo-coo-coo, 

 much shorter than that of the domestic species. The common notes re- 

 semble the monosyllables kee-Jiee-Jcee-Jcee, the first being the loudest, the 

 others gradually diminishing in power. The male assumes a pompous 

 demeanour, and follows the female whether on the ground or on the 

 branches, with spread tail and drooping wings, which it rubs against the 

 part over which it is moving. The body is elevated, the throat swells, 

 the eyes sparkle. He continues his notes, and now and then rises on 

 the wing, and flies a few yards to approach the fugitive and timorous fe- 

 male. Like the domestic Pigeon and other species, they caress each 

 other by billing, in which action, the bill of the one is introduced trans- 

 versely into that of the other, and both parties alternately disgorge the 

 contents of their crop by repeated efforts. These preliminary affairs are 

 soon settled, and the Pigeons commence their nests in general peace and 

 harmony. They are composed of a few dry twigs, crossing each other, 

 and are supported by forks of the branches. On the same tree from fifty 



