268 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
Pigeon, a good handful of the kernels of beech nuts, in- 
termixed with acorns and chesnuts. To form a rough es- 
timate 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 pass- 
ing, 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 hun- 
dred and seventy-two thousand Pigeons! An almost in- 
conceivable multitude, and yet probably far below the 
actual amount. Computing each of these to consume 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 gra- 
ciously given to these birds rapidity of flight, and a dispo- 
sition 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. 
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 Febru- 
ary, I often rested on my oars to contemplate their aerial 
manoeuvres. A column, eight or ten miles in length, 
would appear from Kentucky, high in air, steering across 
to Indiana. The leaders of this great body would some- 
times gradually vary their course, until it formed a large 
bend of more than a mile in diameter, those behind tracing 
the exact route of their predecessors. This would con- 
tinue sometimes long after both extremities were beyond 
the reach of sight, so that the whole, with its glittery un- 
dulations, marked a space on the face of the heavens re- 
sembling the windings of a vast and majestic river. When 
this bend became very great, the birds, as if sensible of 
the unnecessary circuitous course they were taking, sud- 
denly changed their direction, so that what was in co- 
lumn before became an immense front, straightening all 
its indentures, until it swept the heavens in one vast and 
infinitely extended line. Other lesser bodies also united 
with each other, as they happened to approach, with such 
ease and elegance of evolution, forming 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 colutrmq 
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 per- 
pendicularly, to a great depth, and rising, followed the 
exact path of those that went before. • 
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 mo- 
ment, I took for a tornado about to overwhelm the house, 
and every thing around in destruction. The people, ob- 
serving 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 secorfd 
bank of the river. These continued passing for more 
than a quarter of an hour, and at length varied their bear- 
ing 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 
unparalleled multitudes, they are sometimes very nume- 
rous; and great havoc is then made amongst them with 
the gun, the clap-net, and various other implements of 
destruction. As soon as it is ascertained in a town that 
the Pigeons are flying numerously in the neighbourhood, 
the gunners rise en masse; the clap-nets are spread out on 
suitable situations, commonly on an open height, in an 
old buckwheat field; four or five live Pigeons, with their 
eyelids sowed up, are fastened on a moveable stick — a 
small hut of branches is fitted up for the fowler at the dis- 
tance of forty or fifty yards; by the pulling of a string, the 
stick on which the Pigeons rest is alternately elevated and 
depressed, which produces a fluttering of their wings, 
similar to that of birds just alighting; this being perceived 
by the passing flocks, they descend with great rapidity, 
and finding corn, buckwheat, &c., strewed about, begin 
to feed, and are instantly, by the pulling of a cord, co- 
vered with the net. In this manner ten, twenty, and even 
thirty dozen, have been caught at one sweep. Meantime 
the air is darkened with large bodies of them, moving in 
various directions; the woods also swarm with them in 
search of acorns; and the thundering of musquetry is per- 
petual on all sides from morning to night. Wagon loads 
of them are poured into market, where they sell from 
fifty, to twenty -five, and even twelve cents per dozen; and 
Pigeons become the order of the day at dinner, breakfast 
and supper, until the very name becomes sickening. 
