152 cassell's book of birds. 



Whilst feeding, their avidity is at times so great that, in attempting to swallow a large acorn or nut, 

 they are seen gaping for a long while as if in the agonies of suffocation. 



" On such occasions, when the woods are filled with these Pigeons, they are killed in immense 

 numbers, although no apparent diminution ensues. About the middle of the day, after their repast is 

 finished, they settle on the trees to enjoy rest and digest their food. On the ground they walk with 

 ease, as well as on the branches, frequently jerking their beautiful tail, and moving the neck backwards 

 and forwards in the most graceful manner. As the sun begins to sink beneath the horizon, they 

 depart en masse for the roosting-place, which not unfrequently is hundreds of miles distant, as has 

 been ascertained by persons who have kept an account of their arrival and departure. 



" Let us now, kind reader," continues Audubon, " inspect their place of nightly rendezvous. 

 One of these curious places, on the banks of the Green River, in Kentucky, I repeatedly visited. It 

 was, as is always the case, in a jxsrtion of the forest where the trees were of great magnitude, and 

 where there is little underwood. I rode through it upwards of forty miles, and, crossing it in different 

 parts, found its average breadth to be more than three miles. My first view of it was about a fortnight 

 subsequent to the period when they had made choice of it, and I arrived there nearly two hours 

 before sunset. Few Pigeons were then to be seen, but a great number of persons, with horses and 

 wagons, guns and ammunition, had already established encampments on the borders. Two farmers 

 from the vicinity of Russelsville, distant more than a hundred miles, had driven upwards of three 

 hundred hogs to be fattened on the Pigeons which were to be slaughtered. Here and there the 

 people employed in plucking and salting what had already been procured were seen sitting in the 

 midst of large piles of these birds. The dung lay several inches deep, covering the whole extent of 

 the roosting-place. Many trees, two feet in dimaeter, I observed were broken off at a great distance 

 from the ground, and the branches of many of the largest and tallest had given vvay, as if the forest 

 had been swept by a tornado. Everj'thing proved to me that the number of birds resorting to this 

 part of the forest must be immense, beyond conception. As the period of their arrival approached, 

 their foes anxiously prepared to receive them. Some were furnished with iron pots, containing 

 sulphur, others with torches of pine-knots, many with poles, and the rest with guns. The sun was 

 lost to our view, yet not a Pigeon had arrived. Everything was ready, and all eyes were gazing on 

 the clear sky which appeared in glimpses amidst the tall trees. Suddenly there burst forth 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 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 the other, until solid masses 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 

 birds beneath, forcing do\vn the dense groups with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of 

 uproar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even to shout to those persons 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 re-loading. No one dared to venture -ivithin 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 constantly 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 reached, I sent off a man 

 accustomed to perambulate the forest, who, returning 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 



