2 
PASSENGER PIGEON. 
of the river — were also met with in the interior of Louisiana, 
by colonel Pike; and extend their range as far south as the gulf, 
of Mexico; occasionally visiting or breeding in almost every 
quarter of the United States, 
But the most remarkable characteristic of these birds is their 
associating together, both in their migrations, and also during 
the period of incubation, in such prodigious numbers as almost 
to surpass belief; and which has no parallel among any other 
of the feathered tribes, on the face of the earth, with which 
naturalists are acquainted. 
These migrations appear to be undertaken rather in quest of 
food, than merely to avoid the cold of the climate, since we find 
them lingering in the northern regions around Hudson’s Bay 
so late as December; and since their appearance is so casual and 
irregular; sometimes not visiting certain districts for several 
years in any considerable numbers, while at other times they 
are innumerable. I have witnessed these migrations in the Ge- 
nessee country — often in Pennsylvania, and also in various parts 
of Virginia, with amazement; but all that I had then seen of them 
were mere straggling parties, when compared with the congre- 
gated millions which I have since beheld in our western for- 
ests, in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory. 
These fertile and extensive regions abound with the nutritious 
beech nut, which constitutes the chief food of the Wild Pigeon. 
In seasons when these nuts are abundant, corresponding multi- 
tudes of Pigeons may be confidently expected. It sometimes 
happens that having consumed the whole produce of the beech 
trees in an extensive district, they discover another at the dis- 
tance perhaps of sixty or eighty miles, to which they regularly 
repair every morning, and return as regularly in the course of 
the day, or in the evening, to their place of general rendezvous, 
or as it is usually called the roosting place.. These roosting 
places are always in the woods, and sometimes occupy a large 
extent of forest. When they have frequented one of these pla- 
ces for some time, the appearance it exhibits is surprising. The 
ground is covered to the depth of several inches with their dung; 
