THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 
193 
then put down, found that 163 had been made in 
twenty-one minutes. I travelled on, and still met 
more the further I proceeded. The air was literally 
filled with Pigeons ; the light of noonday was ob- 
scured as by an eclipse. 
u Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from 
Hardinsburg fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were still 
passing in undiminished numbers, and continued to 
do so for three days in succession.” 
They are very fond of acorns, beech -nuts, and the 
smaller fruits of the forest trees generally; and when 
they have discovered a spot where these abound in 
sufficient quantities to induce them to alight, they do 
so in the most graceful manner, wheeling around in 
circles, as though to discover if danger were near. 
When fairly settled, they commence scratching among 
the leaves for food, which they swallow with such haste 
as sometimes fairly to choke in the process. Parts 
of the flock are almost constantly changing their po- 
sition, which gives it the appearance of being con- 
tinually in motion. 
It is a singular circumstance that the roosting- 
places of these birds should be at so great a distance 
from the spots where they feed, being sometimes as 
much as sixty or eighty miles apart. This is no doubt 
occasioned by their being compelled to change their 
feeding ground frequently, while they still return to 
the same nightly rendezvous. 
One of these roosts is thus described by Audubon : 
“ It was, as is always the case, in a portion of the 
forest where the trees were of great magnitude, and 
17 N 
