PASSENGER PIGEON. 
257 
young.* This is so extremely fat, that the Indians, and many of the 
•whites, are accustomed to melt down the fat for domestic purposes as a 
substitute for butter and lard. At the time they leave the nest they 
are nearly as heavy as the old ones ; but become 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, breed thrice, and sometimes 
four times, in the same season ; the circumstances already mentioned 
render this highly probable. It is also worthy of observation, that this 
takes place during that period when acorns, beech nuts, &c, are scat- 
tered about in the greatest abundance, and mellowed by the frost. But 
they are not confined to these alone ; buckwheat, hempseed, Indian 
corn, hollyberries, hackberries, huckleberries, and many others fur- 
nished 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 north- 
ward of the nearest rice plantation. The vast quantity of mast which 
these multitudes consume, is a serious loss to the bears, pigs, squirrels 
and other dependants on the fruits of the forest. I 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 these immense flocks, let 
us first attempt to calculate the numbers of that above mentioned, as 
seen in passing between Frankfort and the Indiana 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 comprehended 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 inconceivable multitude, and yet pro- 
bably far below the actual amount. Computing each of these to con- 
sume half a pint of mast daily, the whole quantity at this rate, would 
equal seventeen millions four hundred 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. 
* It seems probable that our author was misinformed on this head, as it has been 
stated to us that the Passenger Pigeon, in common with all the other known species 
of the genus Columba, lays two eggs. 
Vol. II.— 17 
