86 



PASSENGER PIGEON. 



" The Wild Pigeon of America, so wonderful for its gregarious 

 habits, is met with, more or less according to circumstances, from 

 Mexico to Hudson's Bay, in which inhospitable region they are 

 even seen in December weathering the severity of the climate with 

 indifference, and supporting themselves upon the meager buds of 

 the juniper when the ground is hidden by inundating snows. In 

 the west they are found to the base of the northern Andes or 

 Rocky Mountains, but do not appear to be known beyond this 

 natural barrier to their devious wanderings. As might be sup- 

 posed from its extraordinary history, it is found with peculiar 

 strength of wing, moving through the air with extreme rapidity, 

 urging its flight also by quick and very muscular strokes. During 

 the season ol amorous dress it often flies out in numerous hovering 

 circles; and while thus engaged, the tips of the great wing 

 feathers are heard to strike against each other, so as to produce a 

 very audible sound. 



"The almost incredible and unparalleled associations which the 

 species form with each other appear to have no relation with the 

 usual motives to migration among other birds. A general and 

 mutual attachment seems to occasion this congregating propensity. 

 Nearly the whole species, which at any one time inhabit the con- 

 tinent, are found together in the same place. They do not fly from 

 climate, as they are capable of enduring its severity and extremes. 

 They are even found to breed in the latitude of 51 degrees, round 

 Hudson's Bay, and the interior of New Hampshire, as well as in 

 the 32d degree in the dense forests of the great valley of the Mis- 

 sissippi. The accidental situation of their food alone directs all 

 their movements. While this continues to be supplied, they some- 

 times remain sedentary in a particular district, as in the dense 

 forests of Kentucky, where the great body remained for years in 

 succession, and were scarcely elsewhere to be found; and here, 

 at length, when the mast happened to fail, they disappeared fr«* 

 several years. 



"The rapidity of flight, so necessary in their vast domestic 

 movements, is sufficiently remarkable. The Pigeons killed near 

 the city of New York have been found with their crops full of rice, 

 collected in the plantations of Georgia or Carolina ; and as this 

 kind of food is digested by them entirely in twelve hours, they 

 must have traveled probably three or four hundred miles in about 

 half of that time, or have sped at the rate of a mile a minute. 

 With a velocity like this, our Pigeon might visit the shores of 

 Europe in less than three days ; and, in fact, according to Flem- 

 ming, a straggler was actually shot in Scotland in the winter of 

 1825. Associated with this rapidity of flight must also be the 

 extent and acuteness of their vision, or otherwise the object of 

 their motions would be nugatory : so that, while thus darting over 

 the country almost with the velocity of thought, they still keep up 

 a strict survey for their fare ; and, in passing over a sterile region, 

 sail high in the air with a widely extended front, but instantly drop 

 their flight at the prospect of food, flying low till they alight near 

 an ample supply. 



" The associated numbers of Wild Pigeons, the numerous flocks 

 which compose the general swarm, are without any other parallel 

 in the history of the feathered race; they can, indeed, alone be 

 compared to the finny shoals of herrings, which, descending from 

 the arctic regions, discolor and fill the ocean to the extent of mighty 

 kingdoms. To talk of hundreds of millions of individuals of the 

 same species habitually associated in feeding, roosting, and breed- 

 ing, without any regard to climate or season as an operating cause 

 in their gregarious movements, would at first appear to be wholly 

 incredible, if not borne out by the numerous testimony of all the 

 inhabitants of the neighboring districts. The approach of the 

 mighty feathered army with a loud rushing roar and a stirring 

 breeze, attended by a sudden darkness, might be mistaken for a 

 fearful tornado about to overwhelm the face of nature. For 

 several hours together, the vast host, extending some miles in 

 breadth, still continues to pass in flocks without diminution. The 

 whole air is filled with them ; their muting resembles a shower of 



sleet, and they shut out the light as if it were an eclipse. At the 

 approach of the Hawk, their sublime and beautiful aerial evolu- 

 tions are disturbed like the ruffling squall extending over the placid 

 ocean ; as a thundering torrent they rush together in a concen- 

 trating mass, and, heaving in undulating and glittering sweeps 

 toward the earth, at length again proceed in lofty meanders, like 

 the rushing of a mighty animated river. The evolutions of the 

 feeding Pigeons, as they circle round, are both beautiful and 

 amusing. Alighting, they industriously search through the with- 

 ered leaves for their favorite mast. Those behind are continually 

 rising and passing forward in front in such rapid succession that 

 the whole flock, still circling over the ground, seem yet on the 

 wing. As the sun begins to decline, they depart in a body for the 

 general roost, which is often hundreds of miles distant, and is 

 generally chosen in the tallest and thickest forests almost divested 

 of underwood. 



" Nothing can exceed the waste and desolation of these noctur- 

 nal resorts ; the vegetation becomes buried by their excrements to 

 the depth of several inches. The tall trees, for thousands of acres, 

 are completely killed, and the ground strewed with mossy branches 

 torn down by the clustering weight of the birds which have rested 

 upon them. The whole region for several years presents a con- 

 tinued scene of devastation, as if swept by the resistless blast of a 

 whirlwind." 



The migrations of the Passenger Pigeon seem to be undertaken 

 more in search of better feeding-places than of a desire to avoid 

 cold climates. They are found in the northern part of this con- 

 tinent as late as December and January. Their appearance is 

 casual and irregular, like the Crossbills ; they visit districts for 

 several consecutive years regular and in large numbers, and then 

 for a time there is not a single pair of them to be seen. Almost 

 every year large flocks of the Passenger Pigeon can be seen in 

 the several parts of North America, but they are only straggling 

 parties. The large flocks are mostly seen in the Western States, 

 where there is an abundance of food. As a general thing, it 

 creates considerable excitement among the people when a Pigeon- 

 roost is discovered. Parties will come a great distance, armed 

 with any kind of a gun or shooting-arm, to enjoy the sport and 

 procure their part of the spoils. Toward night, when the birds 

 return to the roost from their feeding-places, the shooting com- 

 mences, the sportsman selecting his ground for his particular 

 shooting-place. The Pigeons that are not wounded so as to drop 

 down, fly off soon after the discharge by the gunner; and before 

 the hunter has reloaded his field-piece, others have taken the place, 

 and the shooting is repeated as long as there is light to attend to 

 the guns. Collections are usually made in the morning, the sup- 

 ply generally being sufficient for all. 



A curious circumstance regarding these birds is, that in a single 

 tree I found sixty-two nests, and by far the most nests contained 

 but one young Pigeon. Whenever there are two young squabs in 

 the same nest, they are invariably a pair — male and female. The 

 breeding-place of the Passenger Pigeon is always chosen with 

 good judgment, usually a high-timbered forest, where there is an 

 abundance of beech-nuts and acorns, and where water is not far 

 distant. The highest trees are selected to build their nests in. 

 The voice of the bird at this interesting time is soft, resembling 

 the wonds "coo, coo, coo," while at other times they will utter a 

 quick " ki, ki, ki." The male shows at this time a proud carriage, 

 and follows his chosen female, on the ground as on the branches, 

 with spread tail and hanging wing, which he seems to drag after 

 him. The body is carried in a more perpendicular position, the 

 head being pressed forward ; his eyes sparkle ; he utters his "coo, 

 coo, coo," lifting now and then his dropping wings, and flies a few 

 yards forward, returning to his beloved female with caresses, and 

 feeding her from his crop. After these preludes they commence 

 to build the nest. This consists of a few dry twigs in the fork of a 

 branch, and is very loosely put together, single trees containing 

 from fifty to a hundred nests. The eggs which the nest contains 



