44 The Passenger Pigeon 



can only compare the sensation produced on myself by 

 the extraordinary tumult to that a man experiences at 

 finding himself suddenly placed in the midst of an ex- 

 cited throng of human beings. The unnatural disregard 

 of our persons manifested by the birds greatly height- 

 ened the effect, and caused me to feel as if some un- 

 earthly influence reigned in the place. It was strange, 

 indeed, to be in a mob of the feathered race, that scarce 

 exhibited a consciousness of one's presence. The 

 pigeons seemed a world of themselves, and too much 

 occupied with their own concerns to take heed of mat- 

 ters that lay beyond them. 



" Not one of our party spoke for several minutes. 

 Astonishment seemed to hold us all tongue-tied, and we 

 moved slowly forward into the fluttering throng, silent, 

 absorbed, and full of admiration of the works of the 

 Creator. It was not easy to hear each others' voices 

 when we did speak, the incessant fluttering of wings 

 filling the air. Nor were the birds silent in other 

 respects. 



" The pigeon is not a noisy creature, but a million 

 crowded together on the summit of one hill, occupying a 

 space of less than a mile square, did not leave the forest 

 in its ordinary impressive stillness. As we advanced, 

 I offered my arm, almost unconsciously again to Dus, 

 and she took it with the same abstracted manner as that 

 in which it had been held forth for her acceptance. In 

 this relation to each other, we continued to follow the 



