398 PASSENGER PIGEON. 
These circumstances were related to me by- many of the most 
respectable part of the community in that quarter, and were confirmed, 
in part, by what I myself witnessed. I passed for several miles through 
this same breeding place, where every tree was spotted with nests, 
the remains of those above described. In-many instances, I counted 
upwards of ninety nests on a single tree; but the Pigeons had 
abandoned this place for another, sixty or eighty miles off, towards 
Green River, where they were said at that time to be equally numerous. 
From the great numbers that were constantly passing over head to or 
from that quarter, I had no ‘doubt of the truth of this statement. The 
mast had been chiefly consumeéd.in Kentucky, and the Pigeons, every 
morning, a little before sunrise, set out for the Indiana territory, the 
nearest part of which was about sixty miles distant. Many of these 
returned before ten o’clock, and the great body generally appéared, 
on their return, a little after noon. ; 
Thad left the public road to visit the remains of the breeding place 
near Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with my gun, on my 
way to Frankfort, when, about one o’clock, the Pigeons, which I had 
observed flying the greater part of the morning northerly, began to 
return, in such -immense numbers as I never before had witnessed. 
Coming to an opening, by the side of a creek called the Benson, 
where I had a more uninterrupted view, I was astonished at their 
appearance. They were flying, with great steadiness and rapidity, at 
a height beyond gunshot, in several strata deep, and so close together, 
that, could shot have: reached them, one discharge could not have 
failed of bringing down several individuals. From right to left, far 
as the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast procession extended, 
seeming every where equally crowded. Curious to determine how 
long this appearance would continue, I took ont my watch to note the 
time, and sat down to observe them. It was then half past one. I sat for 
more than an hour, but instead of a diminution of this prodigious proces- 
sion, itseemed rather to increase both in numbers and rapidity; and, anx- 
ious to reach Frankfort before night, I rose and went on. About four 
o’clock in the afternoon [ crossed the Kentucky River, at the town of 
Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head seemed as 
numerous and as extensive as ever. Long after this I observed them, 
in large bodies, that continued to pass for six or eight minutes, and these 
again were followed by other detached bodies, all moving in the same 
south-east direction, till after six in the evening. The great breadth of 
front which this mighty multitude preserved would seem to intimate a 
corresponding breadth of their breeding place, which, by several gen- 
tlemen, who had lately passed through part of it, was stated to me at 
several miles. It was said to be in Green county, and that the young 
began to fly about the middle of March. On the 17th of April, forty- 
nine miles beyond Danville, and not far from Green River, I crossed 
this same breeding place, where the nests, for more than three miles, 
spotted every tree: the leaves not being yet out, I had a fair prospect 
of them, and was really astonished at their numbers. A few bodies 
of Pigeons lingered yet in different parts of the woods, the roaring of 
whose wings was heard in various quarters around me. 
All accounts agree in stating, that each nest contains only one 
young Squab. These are so extremely fat, that the Indians, and many 
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