258 
PASSENGER PIGEON. 
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 manoeu- 
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 than a mile in diameter, those behind tracing the 
exact route of the.ir 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 river. When this bend 
became very great, the birds, as if sensible of the unnecessary circui- 
tous course they were taking, suddenly changed their direction, so that 
what was in column before became an immense front, straightening all 
its indentures, until it swept the heavens in one vast and infinitely ex- 
tended line. Other lesser bodies also united with each other, as they 
happened to approach, with such ease and elegance of evolution, form- 
ing new figures, and varying these as they united or separated, that I 
was never tired of contemplating them. Sometimes a Hawk would 
make a sweep on a particular part of the column, from a great height, 
when almost as quick as lightning, that part shot downwards out of the 
common track, but soon rising again, continued advancing at the same 
height as before ; this inflection was continued by those behind, who on 
arriving at this point, dived down almost perpendicularly, to a great 
depth, and rising followed the exact path of those that went before. As 
these vast bodies passed over the river near me, the surface of the water, 
which was before smooth as glass, appeared marked with innumerable 
dimples, occasioned by the dropping of their dung, resembling the com- 
mencement of a shower of large drops of rain or hail. 
Happening to go ashore one charming afternoon, to purchase some 
milk at a house that stood near the river, and while talking with the 
people within doors, I was suddenly struck with astonishment at a loud 
rushing roar, succeeded by instant darkness, which, on the first moment, 
I took for a tornado about to overwhelm the house, and everything 
around, in destruction. The people observing my surprise, coolly said, 
" It is only the Pigeons ;" and on running out I beheld a flock, thirty or 
forty yards in width, sweeping along very low, between the house and 
the mountain or height that formed the second bank of the river. These 
continued passing for more than a quarter of an hour, and at length 
varied their bearing so as to pass over the mountain, behind which they 
disappeared before the rear came up. 
In the Atlantic States, though they never appear in such unparal- 
