176 PASSENGER PIGEON. 
certainly the whole account gives a very ‘high flown’ 
representation of their flight. ; 
Epitomising his calculations, Alexander Wilson says, ‘Allowing 
two Pigeons to the square yard, we have one billion, one 
hundred and fifteen millions, one hundred and_ thirty-six 
thousand Pigeons in one flock, (flight;) and as every Pigeon 
consumes fully half a pint per day, the quantity required to 
feed such a flock, must be eight millions, seven hundred and 
twelve thousand bushels per day.’ 
Their flight is extraordinarily rapid. It has been conclusively 
proved that they have travelled, at the rate of about a mile 
in a mute, between three and four hundred miles in six 
hours. 
Dr. Saynisch, a German naturalist, thus describes their 
nesting-places, and it certainly is corroborative of Audubon’s 
account. ‘The gathering together of these birds, for the 
purpose of incubation, was exhibited on a scale perfectly 
astonishing. For a length of nine miles they had occupied 
every tree and sapling in the whole breadth of the valley, 
which is from a quarter to a third of a mile wide. Thousands 
and millions of nests were seen on the beech, birch, and 
maple trees, every tree of which contained several nests; and 
I counted on some of them from twenty to fifty nests. 
Unlike most birds, they are said never to return to their 
nesting-places in a succeeding year; we therefore only saw 
their deserted nests; yet even these were interesting, as 
evidences of the countless numbers which had congregated 
here. During the season, when the young Pigeons or ‘squabs’ 
were ready to fly, their retirement was invaded by numerous 
persons, who filled sacks and carts with them; there requiring 
no other trouble than the shaking of the young trees, or 
cutting down those of greater size. This year the Pigeons 
established themselves in a new spot, in the beech woods, 
ten miles to the west.’ 
It would appear that the nest, which is placed in trees, 
and is only a layer of a few sticks, is put together in a 
single day, and that the young are hatched in sixteen days; 
—both male and female assisting in making the nest, the 
former bringing the materials, and the latter arranging them, 
and also in the work of incubation. 
The egs, for only one is laid, is pure white. 
Male; length, one foot five inches; bill, orange colour; iris, 
pale yellow. Head on the sides and crown, bluish grey; 
