298 
COLUMBA MIGRATORIA. 
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 accus- 
tomed 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, holly berries, liackberries, huckle- 
berries, 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 north ward of the nearest rice 
plantation. The vast quantity of mast which these 
multitudes consume is a serious loss to the bears, pigs, 
squirrels, and other dependants on the fruits of the 
forest. I have taken, from the crop of a single wild 
pigeon, a good handful of the kernels of beech nuts, 
intermixed with acorns and chestnuts. To form a rough 
estimate of the daily consumption of one of these 
immense flocks, let us first attempt to calculate the 
numbers of that above mentioned, as seen in passing 
between Frankfort and the Indiana territory : If we 
suppose this column to have been one mile in breadth, 
(and I believe it to have been much more,) and that it 
moved at the rate of one mile in a minute, four hours, 
the time it continued passing, would make its whole 
