10 
PASSENGER PIGEON. 
are shot while in this situation. A person told me, that he once 
rode furiously into one of these rolling multitudes, and picked 
up thirteen Pigeons, which had been trampled to death by his 
horse’s feet. In a few minutes they will beat the whole nuts 
from a tree with their wings; while all is a scramble, both above 
and below, for the same. They have the same cooing notes 
common to domestic Pigeons; but much less of their gesticula- 
tions. In some flocks you will find nothing but young ones, 
which are easily distinguishable by their motley dress. In 
others they will be mostly females; and again great multitudes 
of males, with few or no females. I cannot account for this in 
any other way than that during the time of incubation the males 
are exclusively engaged in procuring food, both for themselves 
and their mates; and the young being unable yet to undertake 
these extensive excursions, associate together accordingly. But 
even in winter I know of several species of birds who separate 
in this manner, particularly the Red-winged Starling, among 
whom thousands of old males may be found, with few or no 
young or females along with them. 
Stragglers from these immense armies settle in almost every 
part of the country, particularly among the beech woods, and 
in the pine and hemlock woods of the eastern and northern 
parts of the continent. Mr. Pennant informs us, that they breed 
near Moose fort at Hudson’s Bay, in N. lat. 51°, and I myself 
have seen the remains of a large breeding place as far south as 
the country of the Chactaws, in lat. 32°. In the former of these 
places they are said to remain until December; from which cir- 
cumstance it is evident that they are not regular in their migra- 
tions, like many other species, but rove about, as scarcity of 
food urges them. Every spring, however, as well as fall, more 
or less of them are seen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia; 
but it is only once in several years that they appear in such for- 
midable bodies; and this commonly when the snows are heavy 
to the north, the winter here more than usually mild, and acorns, 
&c. abundant. 
The Passenger Pigeon is sixteen inches long, and twenty-four 
