CHAPTER VI. 



TT7HILE quartered at Fort Mississisaugua (Anglic^, 

 ' Rattlesnake), an old frontier post of earthwork 

 and palisades, near Niagara, I had one year, in the month 

 of May, the gratification of witnessing a spectacle I had 

 frequently heard of — namely, a grand migration of the 

 Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratoria). 



Early in the morning I was apprised by my servant 

 that an extraordinary flock of birds was passing over, 

 such as he had never seen before. Hurrying out and 

 ascending the grassy ramparts, I was perfectly amazed 

 to behold the air filled and the sun obscured by millions 

 of pigeons, not hovering about, but darting onwards 

 in a straight line with arrowy flight, in a vast mass a 

 mile or more in breadth, and stretching before and 

 behind as far as the eye could reach. 



Swiftly and steadily the column passed over with a 

 rushing sound, and for hours continued in undiminished 



