182 
PASSENGER TURTLE. 
passed for several miles thi’ough this same breeding- 
place, wliere every tree was spotted with nests, the 
remains of those above described. In many instances 
I counted upwards of ninety nests on a single tree, 
hut the pigeons had abandoned this place for ano- 
ther, sixty or eighty miles off towards Green River, 
where they were said at that time to be equally nu- 
merous. From the great numbers that were con- 
stantly passing over our head to or from that quar- 
ter, I ha<l no doubt of the truth of this statement. 
The mast had been chiefly consumed in Kentucky : 
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 iO o’clock, and the great 
body generally appeared on their return a little after 
noon. I had left the public road to visit the re- 
mains of the breeding-place near Shelbyville, and was 
traversing the woods with my gun, on my way to 
Frankfort, when, about 1 o’clock, the pigeons which 
I bad observed flying the greater part of the morning 
northerly, began to return, in such immense num- 
bers as I never before had witnessed. Coming to 
an opening by the side of a creek, called the Benson, 
w’here I had a more uninternipted view', I w'as asto- 
nished 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 indi- 
