AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
267 
'their wings roaring like thunder; mingled with the fre- 
quent crash of falling timber; for now the axe-men were 
at work cutting down those trees that seemed to be most 
crowded with nests; and contrived to fell them in such a 
manner, that in their descent they might bring down seve- 
ral others; by which means the falling of one large tree 
sometimes produced two hundred squabs, little inferior in 
size to thS old ones, and almost one mass of fat. On some 
single trees upwards of one hundred nests were found, 
each containing one young only, a circumstance in the 
history of this bird not generally known to naturalists. It 
was dangerous to walk under these flying and fluttering 
millions, from the frequent fall of large branches, broken 
down by the weight of the multitudes above, and which 
in their descent often destroyed numbers of the birds 
themselves. 
These circumstances were related to me by many of the 
most respectable part of the community in that quarter; 
and were confirmed in part by what I myself witnessed. 
I passed for several miles through this same breeding 
place, where every tree was spotted with nests, the re- 
mains of those above described. In many instances, I 
counted upwards of ninety nests on a single tree; but the 
Pigeons had abandoned this place for another, sixty or 
eighty miles off, towards Green River, where they were 
said at that time to be equally numerous. From the great 
numbers that were constantly passing over head, to or 
from that quarter, I had no doubt of the truth of this 
statement. The mast had been chiefly consumed in Ken- 
tucky, and the Pigeons, every morning, a little before 
sun-rise, set out for the Indiana territory, the nearest part 
of which was about sixty miles distant. Many of these 
returned before ten o’clock, and the great body generally 
appeared on their return a little after noon. 
I had left the public road, to visit the remains of the 
breeding place near Shelbyville, and was traversing the 
woods with my gun, in my way to Frankfort, when about 
' one o’clock, the Pigeons, which I had observed flying the 
greater part of the morning northerly, began to return in 
such immense numbers as I never before had witnessed. 
Coming to an opening by the side of a creek, called the 
Benson, where I had a more uninterrupted view, I was 
astonished at their appearance. They were flying with 
great steadiness and rapidity, at a height beyond gun-shot, 
in several strata deep, and so close together, that 
could shot have reached them, one discharge could not 
have failed of bringing down several individuals. From 
right to left, as far as the eye could reach, the breadth of 
this vast procession extended; seeming every where equal- 
ly crowded. Curious to determine how long this appear- 
ance would continue, I took out my watch to note the 
time, and sat down to observe them. It was then half- 
past one. I sat for more than an hour, but instead of a 
diminution of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather 
to increase both in numbers and rapidity; and, anxious to 
reach Frankfort before night, I rose and went on. About 
four o’clock in the afternoon I crossed the Kentucky 
river, at the town of Frankfort, at which time the living 
torrent above my head seemed as numerous and as exten- 
sive as ever. Long after this I observed them, in large 
bodies that continued to pass for six or eight minutes, and 
these again were followed by other detached bodies, all 
moving in the same south-east direction, till after six in 
the evening. The great breadth of front which this 
mighty multitude preserved, would seem to intimate a cor- 
responding breadth of their breeding place, which, by 
several gentlemen who had lately passed through part of 
it, was stated to me at several miles. It was said to be 
in Green county, and that the young began to fly about 
the middle of March. On the 17th of April, forty-nine 
miles beyond Danville, and not far from Green River, I 
crossed the same breeding place, where the nests for more 
than three miles spotted every tree; the leaves not being 
yet out, I had a fair prospect of them, and was really as- 
t tonished at their numbers. A few bodies of Pigeons lin- 
gered yet in different parts of the woods, the roaring 
of whose wings were heard in various quarters around me. 
All accounts agree in stating, that each nest contains 
only one young. This is so extremely fat, that the In- 
dians, 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 sea- 
son; 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 scattered about in the greatest abundance, 
and mellowed by the frost. But they are not confined to 
these alone; buckwheat, hempseed, Indian corn, hollv 
berries, hack berries, buckle berries, 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 indivi- 
duals killed many hundred miles to the northward 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 dependents on the fruits of the 
forest. I have taken from the crop of a single Wild 
