PASSENGER PIGEON. 
631 
time, or have sped at the rate of a mile in a minute. 
With a velocity like this, our Pigeon might visit the shores 
of Europe in less than three days ; and in fact, according 
to Fleming, a straggler was actually shot in Scotland 
in the winter of 1825. Associated with this rapidity of 
flight, ,must also be the extent and acuteness of their vis- 
ion, or otherwise the object of their motions would be nuga- 
tory ; so that, while thus darting over the country almost 
with the velocity of thought, they still keep up a strict 
survey for their fare ; and, in passing over a sterile region, 
sail high in the air with a widely extended front, but in- 
stantly drop their flight, at the prospect of food, flying 
low, till they alight near an ample supply. 
The associated numbers of Wild Pigeons, the numerous 
flocks which compose the general swarm, are without any 
other parallel in the history of the feathered race ; they can 
indeed alone be compared to the finny shoals of herrings, 
which, descending from the arctic regions, discolor and 
fill the ocean to the extent of mighty kingdoms. Of their 
amazing numbers, and the circumstances attendant on 
it, the reader will do well to consult the indefatigable Wil- 
son and the celebrated Audubon. Our limits, and more 
bounded personal information, will not allow us to enlarge 
on this curious and extraordinary subject. To talk of 
hundreds of millions of individuals of the same species 
habitually associated in feeding, roosting, and breeding, 
without any regard to climate or season, as an operating 
cause in these gregarious movements, would at first ap- 
pear to be wholly incredible, if not borne out by the num- 
erous testimony of all the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
districts. The approach of the mighty feathered army 
with a loud rushing roar, and a stirring breeze, attended 
by a sudden darkness, might be mistaken for a fearful tor- 
nado about to overwhelm the face of nature. For several 
