our roofs. They confide in us, and trust in our friendship and care.Let us never, my boys, betray or abuse their confidence.
There is a kind of birds who travel all over the United States. Theygo from South to North, from North to South. They have not, like themartins, the bob-o’-links, and some others, regular times for goingand coming; but travel more to obtain food than to escape thewinter, and, when once settled in a place with enough suitable foodand water, remain there till it is exhausted, and then take flightto some other place.
“Are you telling us a made-up story, Mother?” said Harry.
“No, Harry, it is really and truly the wild pigeon of America ofwhich I am speaking. Indeed, if it were not for their great power offlight, they must, many of them, starve to death. A proof of theirswiftness is the fact that a pigeon has been killed in theneighborhood of New York, with rice in his crop that he must haveswallowed in the fields of Georgia or Carolina.”
“How could any one know that?” asked Harry.
“By remembering the fact that in one of those states is the nearestspot at which the bird could have found rice growing. It is a wellascertained fact that their power of digestion is so great, thattheir food is in the course of twelve hours so entirely changed,that one cannot know what it was. Now the distance of the ricefields from New York–that is, the number of miles travelled intwelve hours–is such that the pigeon must have flown at the rate ofabout a mile in a minute; so that if he pleased he might go toEngland in two days; but, Frank, if you will give me that pamphletthat lies on the table, I will read the account of the wild pigeonof America from the book itself.”
“It was written by the celebrated Audubon, who resided a great manyyears in America, and who most faithfully watched the birds hedescribed.”
After giving an account of the speed of the pigeon, he goes on tosay, “This great power of flight is seconded by as great a power ofvision, which enables them, as they travel at that great rate, toview objects below, and so discover their food with facility. This Ihave proved to be the case by observing the pigeons, as they werepassing over a barren part of the country, keep high in the air, andpresent such an extensive front as to enable them to observehundreds of acres at once.”
“If, on the contrary, the land is richly covered with food, or thetrees with mast, (the fruit of the oak and beech trees,) the birdsfly low, in order to discover the portion of woods most plentifullysupplied, and there they alight. The form of body of these swifttravellers is an elongated (lengthened) oval steered by a long,well-plumed tail,”–just as you know, Harry, you steer your boat bythe rudder in the great tub of water; “they are furnished withextremely well set muscular wings. If a single bird is seen glidingthrough the woods and close by, it passes apparently like a thought,and the eye, on trying to see it again, searches in vain–the birdis gone.”
The multitudes of pigeons in our woods are astonishing; and, indeed,after having for years viewed them so often, under so manycircumstances, and I may add in many different climates, I even nowfeel inclined to pause and assure myself that what I am going torelate is fact.
In the autumn of 1813, I left my house in Henderson, on the banks ofthe Ohio, on my way to Louisville. Having met the pigeons flyingfrom north-east to south-west in the barrens or natural wastes, afew miles beyond Hardensburgh, in greater apparent numbers than Ihad ever seen them before, I felt an inclination to count the flocksthat would pass within the reach of my eye in one hour. Idismounted, and, seating myself on a little eminence, took my pencilto mark down what I saw going by and over me; and I made a dot forevery flock which passed. Finding, however, that this was next toimpossible, and feeling unable to record the flocks as theymultiplied constantly, I arose, and counting the dots already putdown, discovered that one hundred and sixty-three had been made intwenty-one minutes.
I travelled on, and still met more flocks the farther I went. Theair was literally filled with pigeons. The light of noonday becamedim as during an eclipse. The continued buzz of wings over me had atendency to incline my senses to repose.
Whilst waiting for my dinner at Young’s Inn, at the confluence ofSalt River with the Ohio, I saw, at my leisure, immense legionsstill going by, with a front reaching far beyond the Ohio on thewest, and the beech wood forest directly on the east of me. Yet nota single bird would alight, for not a nut or acorn was that year tobe seen in the neighborhood.
The pigeons flew so high that different trials to reach them with acapital rifle proved ineffectual, and not even the report disturbedthem in the least. A black hawk now appeared in their rear. At oncelike a torrent, and with a thunder-like noise, they formedthemselves into almost a solid, compact mass, all pressing towardsthe centre.
In such a solid body, they zigzagged to escape the murderous falcon,now down close over the earth sweeping with inconceivable velocity,then ascending perpendicularly like a vast monument, and, when highup, wheeling and twisting within their continuous lines, resemblingthe coils of a gigantic serpent.
Before sunset, I reached Louisville, fifty-five miles distant fromHardensburgh. The pigeons were still passing, and continued forthree days. The banks of the river were crowded with men andchildren, for here the pigeons flew rather low passing the Ohio.
The whole atmosphere, during the time, was full of the smellbelonging to the pigeon species. It is extremely curious to seeflocks after flocks follow exactly the same evolutions when theyarrive at the same place. If a hawk, for instance, has chanced tocharge a portion of the army at a certain spot, no matter what thezigzags, curved lines, or undulations might have been during theaffray, all the following birds keep the same track; so that if atraveller happens to see one of these attacks, and feels a wish tohave it repeated, he may do so by waiting a short time.
It may not perhaps be out of place to attempt an estimate of thenumber of pigeons contained in one flock, and of the quantity offood they daily consume.
We shall take, for example, a column, one mile in breadth, which isfar below the average size, and suppose the birds to pass over us,