PASSENGER PIGEON. 
201 
this place for another, sixty or eighty miles off towards 
Green river, where they were said at that time to be equally 
numerous. From the great numbers that were constantly 
passing over head to or from that quarter, I had no doubt 
of the truth of this statement. The mast had been chiefly 
consumed in Kentucky, and the Pigeons, every morning, a 
little before sunrise, set out for the Indiana territory, the 
nearest part of which was about sixty miles distant. Many 
of these returned before ten o’clock, and the great body 
generally appeared, on their return, a little after noon. 
I had left the public road to visit the remains of the breeding 
place near Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with 
my gun, on my way to Frankfort, when, about one o’clock, 
the Pigeons, which I had observed flying the greater part of 
the morning northerly, began to return, in such immense 
numbers as I never before had witnessed. Coming to an 
opening, by the side of a creek called the Benson, where I 
had a more uninterrupted view, I was astonished at their 
appearance. They were flying, with great steadiness and 
rapidity, at a height beyond gunshot, in several strata deep, 
and so close together, that, could shot have reached them, 
one discharge could not have failed of bringing down several 
individuals. From right to left, far as the eye could reach, 
the breadth of this vast procession extended, seeming every 
where equally crowded. Curious to determine how long this 
appearance would continue, I took out my watch to note the 
time, and sat down to observe them. It was then half past 
one. I sat for more than an hour, but instead of a diminution 
of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather to increase 
both in numbers and rapidity ; and, anxious to reach Frank- 
fort before night, I rose and went on. About four o’clock in 
the afternoon I crossed the Kentucky river, at the town of 
Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head 
seemed as numerous and as extensive as ever. Long after 
this I observed them, in large bodies, that continued to pass 
for six or eight minutes, and these again were followed by 
