COLUMBA MIGRATORIA. 
294 
These nii^ratious appear to be undertaken rather lO 
quest of food, than merely to avoid the cold of th« 
climate ; since rre find them lingering' in the nortbcrO 
regions, around Hudson’s Bay, so late as December! 
and, since their a|)pearance is so casual and irregulaTi 
sometimes not visiting certain districts for sevei-al years 
in any considerable numhers, u hile at other times they 
are innumerable. 1 have u itnessed these migrations if" 
the Gennesee country, often in Pennsylvania, and iJ-*® 
in various parts of Virginia, with amazement ; but w* 
tliat I had then seen of them were mere straggli®? 
parties, when compared with the cong'regated millioV* 
which I have since heliehl in our western forests, 
the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory- 
These fertile and extensive regions abound 'u-ith tb* 
nutricious beech nut, which constitutes the chief foo® 
of the wild pigeon. In seasons w-hen these nuts 
abundant, corresponding multitudes of pigeons may b® 
confidently e.xpccted. It sometimes happens that, havi®? 
consumed the whole produce of the beech trees, in 
extensive district, they discover another, at the distau*'® 
perhaps of sixty or ciglity miles, to which they regularly 
repair every morning, and return as regularly in tl'J 
course of the day, or in the evening, to their place 
general rendezvons, or, as it is usually called, lb® 
roosting ]»lace. These roosting places are always *1. 
the woods, and sometimes occupy a large extent ® 
forest. When they have frequented one of these plar® 
for some time, the appearance it exhibits is snrprisil'r' 
The ground is covered to the depth of several inch®! 
with their dung; all the tender grass and underwo®^ 
destroyed; the surface strewed with large limbs 
trees, broken down by the weight of the birds clusterW 
one above another; and the trees themselves, 
thousands of acres, killed as completely as if gi'''^*!',. 
with an axe. The marks of this desolation remain 
many years on the spot ; and numerous phaccs co" ^ 
he pointed out, where, for several years after, scare® 
single vegetable made its appearance. 
When these roosts are first discovered, the inhabit*’' 
