32 



PASSENGER PIGEON. 



He seems to sing for his own amusement. As soon as he suspects 

 that he is being observed, he will stop altogether or utter a call re- 

 sembling somewhat the words " dihu, dui, dui, dui, dui, dui, dui, 

 dui, dui." When alarmed, he will utter a short " zip" or " tip." 



The Cardinal Grosbeak is easily kept in cages, and is satisfied 

 with the simplest kinds of grain. He is a hardy bird, and may be 

 brought to breeding in captivity by giving him more freedom in a 

 large room. It will never do to place him in a room or cage with 

 other birds, as it appears impossible for him to keep peace with 

 them. 



PLATE XXIX. 



The Passenger Pigeon. (Ectopistes migrator ius.) 



The Passenger Pigeon, or, as it is commonly called, the " Wild 

 Pigeon," are the gypsies among birds. They are everywhere and 

 nowhere. From Hudson's Bay down to the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern coast, and in all the 

 States of North America, is found the Passenger Pigeon — at no time 

 in equal numbers, generally more in number in the Eastern and 

 Middle than in the Northern and Southern States. 



Audubon and, before him, Wilson relate the most wonderful 

 stories concerning the numbers of these Pigeons during their 

 wanderings. We quote from Audubon as follows : 



" Their great power of flight enables them to survey and pass 

 over an astonishing extent of country in a very short time. Thus, 

 Pigeons have been killed in the neighborhood of New York with 

 their crops full of rice, which they must have collected in the fields 

 of Georgia and Carolina ; these districts being the nearest in which 

 they could possibly have procured a supply of food As their power 

 of digestion is so great, that they will decompose food entirely in 

 twelve hours, they must, in this case, have traveled between three 

 and four hundred miles in six hours, which shows their speed to be, 

 at an average, about one mile in a minute. A velocity such as this, 

 would enable one of these birds, were it so inclined, to visit the 

 European continent in less than three days." 



" In the autumn of 1813, I left my house at Henderson, on the 

 banks of the Ohio, on my way to Louisville. In passing over the 

 barrens, a few miles beyond Hardinsburgh, I observed the Pigeons 

 flying from northeast to southwest in greater numbers than I thought 

 I had ever seen them before. I traveled on, and still met more 

 the farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons. 

 The light of the noonday was obscured as by an eclipse. The 

 dung fell in spots not unlike melting flakes of snow ; and the con- 

 tinued buzz of the wings had a tendency to lull my senses to re- 

 pose. 



" Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardinsburgh 

 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. The atmosphere was, during this time, 

 strongly impregnated with the peculiar odor which emanates 

 from the species." 



In estimating the number of these mighty flocks, and the 

 food consumed by them daily, he adds: "Let us take a 

 column of one mile in breadth, which is- far below the average 

 size, and suppose it passing over us at the rate of one mile per 

 minute. This will give us a parallelogram of 180 miles by one, cov- 

 ering 180 square miles ; and allowing two Pigeons to the square 

 yard, we have one billion one hundred and fifteen millions one 

 hundred and thirty-six thousand Pigeons in one flock; and as 

 every Pigeon consumes daily fully half a pint, the quantity re- 



quired to feed such a flock, must be eight millions seven hundred 

 and twelve thousand bushels per day." 



" Let us now, kind reader, inspect their place of nightly rendez- 

 vous : It was, as is always the case, in a portion of the forest 

 where the trees were of great magnitude, and where there was 

 little underwood. I rode through it upward of forty miles, and, 

 crossing it at different parts, found its average breadth to be rather 

 more than three miles. Few Pigeons were to be seen before sunset ; 

 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 Russellsville, distant more than a 

 hundred miles, had driven upward 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 al- 

 ready 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, like a bed of snow. Many 

 trees, two feet in diameter, I observed were broken off at no great 

 distance from the ground ; and the branches of many of the largest 

 and tallest had given way as if the forest had been swept by a 

 tornado. Everything proved to me that the number of birds re- 

 sorting to this part of the forest, must be immense beyond concep- 

 tion. As the period of their arrival approached, their foes anxiously 

 prepared to seize them. Some were furnished with iron pots con- 

 taining 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 I' The noise which they made, though yet dis- 

 tant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, passing through the rig- 

 ging 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 polemen. The current of birds, how- 

 ever, still kept increasing. The fires were lighted, and a most 

 magnificent, as well as a wonderful and terrifying sight, presented 

 itself. The Pigeons coming in by thousands alighted everywhere, 

 one above another, until solid masses, as large as hogsheads, were 

 formed on every tree, in all directions. 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 up- 

 roar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even to 

 shout, to those persons who were nearest me. The reports, even, 

 of the nearest guns were seldom heard ; and I knew 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 birds being left for the 

 next morning's employment. The Pigeons were constantly com- 

 ing, and it was past midnight before I perceived a decrease in the 

 number of those that arrived. The uproar continued, however, 

 the whole night ; and as I was anxious to know to what distance 

 the sound reached, I sent off a man, accustomed to preambulate 

 the forest, who, returning two hours afterward, informed me he had 

 heard it distinctly when three miles from the spot. Toward the 

 approach of day, the noise rather subsided ; but long ere objects 

 were at all 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 dis- 

 appeared. The howlings of the wolves now reached our ears ; and 

 the foxes, lynxes, cougars, bears, raccoons, opossums, and polecat? 

 were seen sneaking off from the spot, 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 among the dead, 

 the dying, and the mangled. The Pigeons were picked up and 

 piled in heaps, until each had as many as he could possibly dis- 

 pose of, when the hogs were let loose to feed on the remainder." 



