186 



NBSTB AND EGQS OF 



Michigan of any Importance was in 1881. Wilson's and Audubon's graphic accounts 

 of the "congregated millions" which they saw in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky seem 

 hardly credible to those who have not seen them. The extensive forests which once 

 served as breeding and feeding grounds have been partially or wholly destroyed, 

 and we are no longer favored with the sublime sights of immense, unbroken, and 

 apparently limitless flocks. Until about 1855, these Pigeons were extremely abundp 

 ant in central Ohio, having at that time a roost and breeding place near KirkersviUe, 





315. Passengbr Pigeon (From Brehm). 



Licking county, and large numbers were to be seen from sunrise till nine o'clock and 

 after, flying westward from the roost, and in the afternoon about four o'clock till 

 sundown returning. At these hours they were never out of sight, and often dozens 

 of flocks were in sight at once. Dr. Kirtland states that near Circleville, in 1850, one 

 thousand two hundred and eighty-five were caught in a single net in one day, and 

 the average price for the birds in Columbus was five or six cents per dozen. The 

 Wild Pigeon congregates in vast communities for the purpose of breeding, nesting 

 in trees and bushes, frequently at a considerable height from the ground, and often 



