302 
COLUMBA MIGRATORIA. 
torrent rolling 1 along through the woods, every one 
striving to be in the front. Vast numbers of them are 
shot while in this situation. A person told me, that 
he once rode furiously into one of these rolling multi- 
tudes, and picked up thirteen pigeons, which had been 
trampled to death by his horse’s feet. In a few minutes, 
they will beat the whole nuts from a tree with their 
wings, while all is a scramble, both above and below, 
for the same. They have the same cooing notes common 
to domestic pigeons, but much less of their gesticula- 
tions. In some flocks you will And nothing but young 
ones, which are easily distinguishable by their motley 
dress. In others, they will be mostly females ; and 
again, great multitudes of males, with few or no females. 
I cannot account for this in any other way than that, 
during the time of incubation, the males are exclusively 
engaged in procuring food, both for themselves and 
their mates ; and the young, being unable yet to under- 
take these extensive excursions, associate together 
accordingly. But, even in winter, I know of several 
species of birds who separate in this manner, particularly 
the red-winged starling, among whom thousands of old 
males may be found, with few or no young or females 
along with them. 
Stragglers from these immense armies settle in almost 
every part of the country, particularly among the beech 
woods, and in the pine and hemlock woods of the 
eastern and northern parts of the continent. Mr 
Pennant informs us, that they breed near Moose Fort 
at Hudson’s Bay, in N. lat. 51°, and I myself have seen 
the remains of a large breeding place as far south as 
the country of the Chactaws, in lat. 32°. In the former 
of these places they are said to remain until December; 
from which circumstance, it is evident that they are 
not regular in their migrations, like many other species, 
but rove about, as scarcity of food urges them. Every 
spring, however, as well as fall, more or less of them 
are seen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia ; but it 
is only once in several years that they appear in such 
