, 
j PASSENGER PIGEON. 399 
of the whites, are accustomed to melt down the fat for domestic pur- 
poses, as a substitute for butter and lard. At the time they leave the 
nest, they are nearly as heavy as the old ones; but becorne 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, bréed thrice, and some- 
times four times, in the same season : the circumstances already men- 
tioned render this highly probable. It is also worthy of observation, 
that this takes place during that period when acorns, beech nuts, &c, 
are scattered about in the greatest abundance, and mellowed by the 
frost. But they are not confined to these alone, — buckwheat, hemp- 
seed, Indian corn, hollyberries, hackberries, huckleberries, and many 
others, furnish 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 northward of the nearest rice plantation. The vast quan- 
tity of mast which these multitudes consume is a serious loss to the 
bears, pigs, squirrels, and other dependents on the fruits of the forest. 
[ 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 thése 
immense flocks, let us first attempt to calculate the numbers of that 
above mentioned, as seen in passing between Frankfort and the In- 
diana 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 compre- 
hended 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 incon- 
ceivable multitude, and yet probably far below the actual amount. 
Computing each of these to consume half a pint of mast daily, the 
whole quantity at this rate would equal seventeen millions, four hun- 
dred and twenty-four thousand bushels per day! Heaven has wisely 
and graciously given to these birds rapidity of flight 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. 
A few observations on the mode of flight of these birds must not be 
omitted : the appearance of large detached bodies of them in the air, 
and the various evolutions they display, are strikingly picturesque and 
interesting. In descending the Ohio by myself, in the month of Feb- 
ruary, I often rested on my oars to contemplate their aerial mancu- 
vres. A column, eight or ten miles in length, would appear from Ken- 
tucky, high in air, steering across to Indiana. The leaders of this 
great body would sometimes gradually vary their course, until it 
formed a large bend, of more -han a mile in diameter, those behind 
tracing the exact route of tneir predecessors. This would continue 
sometimes long after both extremities were beyond the reach of sight; 
so that the whole, with its glittery undulations, marked a space on the 
face of the heavens resembling the windings of a vast and majestic 
