202 
PASSENGER PIGEON. 
other detached bodies, all moving in the same southeast 
direction, till after six in the evening. The great breadth of 
front which this mighty multitude preserved would seem to 
intimate a corresponding breadth of their breeding place, 
which, by several gentlemen, who had lately passed through 
part of it, was stated to me at several miles. It was said to 
be in Green county, and that the young began to fly about 
the middle of March. On the 17th of April, forty-nine miles 
beyond Danville, and not far from Green river, I crossed 
this same breeding place, where the nests, for more than 
three miles, spotted every tree ; the leaves not being yet out, 
I had a fair prospect of them, and was really astonished at 
their numbers. A few bodies of Pigeons lingered yet in 
different parts of the woods, the roaring of whose wings was 
heard in various quarters around me. 
All accounts agree in stating, that each nest contains only 
one young squab. These are so extremely fat, that the 
Indians, and many of the whites, are accustomed to melt 
down the fat, for domestic purposes, as a substitute for 
butter and lard. At the time they leave the nest, they are 
nearly as heavy as the old ones ; but become much leaner 
after they are turned out to shift for themselves. 
It is universally asserted, in the western countries, that the 
Pigeons, though they have only one young at a time, breed 
thrice, and sometimes four times, in the same season : the 
circumstances already mentioned render this highly probable. 
It is also worthy of observation, that this takes place during 
that period when acorns, beech nuts, & c. are scattered about 
in the greatest abundance, and mellowed by the frost. But 
they are not confined to these alone, — buckwheat, hempseed, 
Indian corn, hollyberries, hackberries, huckleberries, and many 
others, furnish them with abundance at almost all seasons. 
The acorns of the live oak are also eagerly sought after by 
these birds, and rice has been frequently found in individuals 
killed many hundred miles to the northward of the nearest 
rice plantation. The vast quantity of mast which these 
