400 : PASSEN. ER PIGEON. 
river. When this bend became very great, the birds, as if sensible. 
of the unnecessary circuitous course they were taking, suddenly 
changed their direction, so that what was in column before became an 
immense front, straightening all its indentures, until it swept the heav- 
ens in one vast and infinitely extended line. Other lesser bodies also 
united with each other as they happened to approach, with such ease 
and elegance of evolution, forming new figures, and varying these as 
they united or separated, that I never was tired of contemplating 
them. Sometimes a Hawk would make a sweep on a particular part 
of the column, from a great height, when, almost as quick as light- 
ning, that part shot downwards out of the common track; but, soon 
rising again, continued advancing at the same height as before. This 
inflection was continued by those behind, who, on arriving at this 
point, dived down, almost perpendicularly, to a great depth, and rising, 
followed the exact path of those that went before. As these vast 
bodies passed over the river near me, the surface of the water, which 
was before smooth as glass, appeared marked with innumerable dim- 
ples, occasioned by the dropping of their dung, resembling the com- 
mencement of a shower of large drops of rain or hail. : 
Happening to go ashore, one charming afternoon, to purchase some 
milk at a house that stood near the river, and while talking with the 
people within doors, was suddenly struck with astonishment at a 
oud rushing roar, succeeded by instant darkness, which, on the first 
moment, I took for a tornado, about to overwhelm the house and every 
thing around in destruction. The people, observing my surprise, cool- 
ly said, “ It is only the Pigeons ;” and, on running out, I beheld a flock, 
thirty or forty yards in width, sweeping along very low, between the 
house and the mountain, or height, that formed the second bank of the 
river. These continued passing for more than a quarter of an hour, 
and at length varied their bearing so as to pass over the mountain, 
behind which they disappeared before the rear came up. 
In the Atlantic States, though they never appear in such unpar- 
alleled multitudes, they are sometimes very numerous; and great 
havoc is then made amongst them with the gun, the clap net, and va- 
rious other implements of destruction. As soon as it is ascertained 
in a town that the Pigeons are flying numerously in the neighborhood, 
the gunners rise en masse ; the clap nets are spread out on suitable 
situations, commonly on an open height in an old buckwheat field; 
four or five live Pigeons, with their eyelids sewed up, are fastened on 
a moveable stick —a small hut of branches is fitted up for the fowler, 
at the distance of forty or fifty yards — by the pulling of a string, the 
stick on which the Pigeons rest, is alternately elevated and depressed, 
which produces a fluttering of their wings similar to that of birds just 
alighting ; this being perceived by the passing flocks, they descend 
with great rapidity, and, finding corn, buckwheat, &c., strewed about, 
begin to feed, and are instantly, by the pulling of a cord, covered by 
the net. In this manner, ten, twenty, and even thirty dozen, have 
been caught at one sweep. Meantime, the air is darkened with large 
bodies of them, moving in various directions; the woods also swarm 
with them in search of acorns; and the thundering of musketry is 
perpetual on all sides, from morning to night. Wagon loads of them 
are poured into market, where they sell from fifty to twenty-five, and 
