PASSENGER PIGEON. 257 



young.* This is so extremely fat, that the Indians, and many of the 

 whites, are accustomed to melt down the fat for domestic purposes as a 

 substitute for butter and lard. At the time they leave the nest they 

 are nearly as heavy as the old ones ; but become much leaner after they 

 are turned out to shift for themselves. 



It is universally asserted in the western countries, that the Pigeons, 

 though they have only one young at a time, breed thrice, and sometimes 

 four times, in the same season ; the circumstances already mentioned 

 render this highly probable. It is also worthy of observation, that this 

 takes place during that period when acorns, beech nuts, &c., are scat- 

 tered about in the greatest abundance, and mellowed by the frost. But 

 they are not confined to these alone ; buckwheat, hempseed, Indian 

 corn, hollyberries, hackberries, huckleberries, and many others fur- 

 nished them with abundance at almost all seasons. The acorns of the 

 live oak are also eagerly sought after by these birds, and rice has been 

 frequently found in individuals killed many hundred miles to the north- 

 ward of the nearest rice plantation. The vast quantity of mast which 

 these multitudes consume, is a serious loss to the bears, pigs, squirrels 

 and other dependants on the fruits of the forest. I have taken from 

 the crop of a single Wild Pigeon, a good handful of the kernels of 

 beech nuts, intermixed with acorns and chestnuts. To form a rough 

 estimate of the daily consumption of one of these immense flocks, let 

 us first attempt to calculate the numbers of that above mentioned, as 

 seen in passing between Frankfort and the Indiana territory. If we 

 suppose this column to have been one mile in breadth (and I believe it 

 to have been much more), and that it moved at the rate of one mile In 

 a minute ; four hours, the time it continued passing, would make its 

 whole length two hundred and forty miles. Again supposing that each 

 square yard of this moving body comprehended three Pigeons, the 

 square yards in the whole space, multiplied by three, would give two 

 thousand two hundred and thirty millions, two hundred and seventy-two 

 thousand pigeons ! An almost inconceivable multitude, and yet pro- 

 bably far below the actual amount. Computing -each of these to con- 

 sume half a pint of mast daily, the whole quantity at this rate, would 

 equal seventeen millions four hundred and twenty-four thousand bushels 

 per day ! Heaven has wisely and graciously given to these birds 

 rapidity of fiight, and a disposition to range over vast uncultivated 

 tracts of the earth ; otherwise they must have perished in the districts 

 where they resided, or devoured up the whole productions of agriculture, 

 as well as those of the forests. 



* It seems probable that our author was misinformed on this head, as it has been 

 stated to us that the Passenger Pigeon, in common with all the other known species 

 of the genus Columba, lays two eggs. 



Vol. II.— 17 



