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John James Audubon
American Painter
1785-1851 A selection from
BIRDS OF AMERICA
Narrated by Lloyd James
This file is 6.1 MB;
running time is 13 minutes
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The Passenger Pigeon, or, as it is usually named in America, the Wild Pigeon, moves with
extreme rapidity, propelling itself by quickly repeated flaps of the wings, which it brings more or
less near to the body, according to the degree of velocity which is required. Like the Domestic
Pigeon, it often flies, during the love season, in a circling manner, supporting itself with both
wings angularly elevated, in which position it keeps them until it is about to alight. Now and
then, during these circular flights, the tips of the primary quills of each wing are made to strike
against each other, producing a smart rap, which may be heard at a distance of thirty or forty
yards. Before alighting, the Wild Pigeon, like the Carolina Parrot and a few other species of
birds, breaks the force of its flight by repeated flapping, as if apprehensive of receiving injury
from coming too suddenly into contact with the branch or the spot of ground on which it intends
to settle.
I have commenced my description of this species with the above account of its flight, because the
most important facts connected with its habits relate to its migrations. These are entirely owing to
the necessity of procuring food, and are not performed with the view of escaping the severity of
a northern latitude, or of seeking a southern one for the purpose of breeding. They consequently
do not take place at any fixed period or season of the year. Indeed, it sometimes happens that a
continuance of a sufficient supply of food in one district will keep these birds absent from
another for years. I know, at least, to a certainty, that in Kentucky they remained for several
years constantly, and were nowhere else to be found. They all suddenly disappeared one season
when the mast was exhausted, and did not return for a long period. Similar facts have been
observed in other States.
Their great power of flight enables them to survey and pass over an astonishing extent of country
in a very short time. This is proved by facts well known. Thus, Pigeons have been killed in the
neighborhood of New York, with their crops full of rice, which they must have collected in the
fields of Georgia and Carolina, these districts being the nearest in which they could possibly
have procured a supply of that kind of food. As their power of digestion is so great that they will
decompose food entirely in twelve hours, they must in this case have traveled between three and
four hundred miles in six hours, which shows their speed to be at an average of about one mile in
a minute. A velocity such as this would enable one of these birds, were it so inclined, to visit the
European continent in less than three days.
The multitudes of Wild Pigeons in our woods are astonishing. Indeed, after having viewed them
so often, and under so many circumstances, I even now feel inclined to pause, and assure myself
that what I am going to relate is fact. Yet I have seen it all, and that too in the company of
persons who, like myself, were struck with amazement.
In the autumn of 1813, I left my house at Henderson, on the banks of the Ohio, on my way to
Louisville. In passing over the Barrens a few miles beyond Hardensburgh, I observed the
Pigeons flying from north-east to south-west, in greater numbers than I thought I had ever seen
them before, and feeling an inclination to count the flocks that might pass within the reach of my
eye in one hour, "I dismounted, seated myself on an eminence, and began to mark with my pencil, making a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time finding the task which I had, undertaken impracticable, as the birds poured in in countless multitudes,I rose, and counting the
dots then put down, found that 163 had been made in twenty-one minutes. I traveled on, and still met more the farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled with Pigeons; the light of noon-day was obscured as by an eclipse, the dung fell in spots, not unlike melting flakes of snow; and the continued buzz of wings had a tendency to lull my senses to repose.
Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from Hardensburgh fifty-five miles. The Pigeons were still passing in undiminished numbers, and continued to do so for three days in succession.
The people were all in arms. The banks of the Ohio were crowded with men and boys,
incessantly shooting at the pilgrims, which there flew lower as they passed the river. Multitudes
were thus destroyed. For a week or more, the population fed on no other flesh than that of
Pigeons, and talked of nothing but Pigeons.
On The Behaviour of the Passenger Pigeon
As soon as the Pigeons discover a sufficiency of food to entice them to alight, they fly around in
circles, reviewing the country below. During their evolutions, on such occasions, the dense mass
which they form exhibits a beautiful appearance, as it changes its direction, now displaying a
glistening sheet of azure, when the backs of the birds come simultaneously into view, and anon,
suddenly presenting a mass of rich deep purple. They then pass lower, over the woods, and for a
moment are lost among the foliage, but again emerge, and are seen gliding aloft. They now
alight, but the next moment, as if suddenly alarmed, they take to wing, producing by the
flapping of their wing a noise like the roar of distant thunder, and sweep through the forests to
see if danger is near. Hunger, however, soon brings them to the ground. When alighted, they are
seen industriously throwing up the withered leaves in quest of the fallen mast. The rear ranks are
continually rising, passing over the main-body, and alighting in front, in such rapid succession,
that the whole flock seems still on wing. The quantity of ground thus swept is astonishing, and
so completely has it been cleared, that the gleaner who might follow in their rear would find his
labor completely lost. Whilst feeding, their avidity is at times so great that in attempting to
swallow a large acorn or nut, they are seen gasping for a long while, as if in the agonies of
suffocation.
On such occasions, when the woods are filled with these Pigeons, they are killed in immense
numbers, although no apparent diminution ensues. About the middle of the day, after their repast
is finished, they settle on the trees, to enjoy rest, and digest their food. On the ground they walk
with ease, as well as on the branches, frequently jerking their beautiful tail, and moving the neck
backwards and forwards in the most graceful manner. As the sun begins to sink beneath the
horizon, they depart en masse for the roosting-place, which not infrequently is hundreds of
miles distant, as has been ascertained by persons who have kept an account of their arrivals and
departures.
Let us now, kind reader, inspect their place of nightly rendezvous. One of these curious
roosting-places, on the banks of the Green river in Kentucky, I repeatedly visited. It was, as is
always the case, in a portion of the forest where the trees were of great magnitude, and where
there was little under-wood. I rode through it upwards of forty miles, and, crossing it in different
parts, found its average breadth to be rather more than three miles. My first view of it was about
a fortnight subsequent to the period when they had made choice of it, and I arrived there nearly
two hours before sunset. Few Pigeons were then to be seen, but a great number of persons, with
horses and wagons, guns and ammunition, had already established encampments on the borders.
Two farmers from the vicinity of Russelsville, distant more than a hundred miles, had driven
upwards of three hundred hogs to be fattened on the pigeons which were to be slaughtered. Here
and there, the people employed in plucking and salting what had already been procured, were
seen sitting in the midst of large piles of these birds. The dung lay several inches deep, covering
the whole extent of the roosting-place. Many trees two feet in diameter, I observed, were broken
off at no great distance from the ground; and the branches of many of the largest and tallest had
given way, as if the forest had been swept by a tornado. Every thing proved to me that the
number of birds resorting to this part of the forest must be immense beyond conception. As the
period of their arrival approached, their foes anxiously prepared to receive them. Some were
furnished with iron-pots containing sulfur, others with torches of pine-knots, many with poles,
and the rest with guns. The sun was lost to our view, yet not a Pigeon had arrived. Every thing
was ready, and all eyes were gazing on the clear sky, which appeared in glimpses amidst the tall
trees. Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of "Here they come!" The noise which they made,
though yet distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, passing through the rigging of a
close-reefed vessel. As the birds arrived and passed over me, I felt a current of air that surprised
me. Thousands were soon knocked down by the pole-men. The birds continued to pour in. The
fires were lighted, and a magnificent, as well as wonderful and almost terrifying, sight presented
itself. The Pigeons, arriving by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above another, until solid
masses were formed on the branches all round. Here and there the perches gave way under the
weight with a crash, and, falling to the ground, destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing
down the dense groups with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar and
confusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even to shout to those persons who were nearest
to me. Even the reports of the guns were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only
by seeing the shooters reloading.
No one dared venture within the line of devastation. The hogs had been penned up in due time,
the picking up of the dead and wounded being left for the next morning's employment. The
Pigeons were constantly coming, and it was past midnight before I perceived a decrease in the
number of those that arrived. The uproar continued the whole night; and as I was anxious to
know to what distance the sound reached, I sent off a man, accustomed to perambulate the
forest, who, returning two hours afterwards, informed me he had heard it distinctly when three
miles distant from the spot. Towards the approach of day, the noise in some measure subsided:
long before objects were distinguishable, the Pigeons began to move off in a direction quite
different from that in which they had arrived the evening before, and at sunrise all that were able
to fly had disappeared. The howling of the wolves now reached our ears, and the foxes, lynxes,
cougars, bears, raccoons, opossums and pole-cats were seen sneaking off, whilst eagles and
hawks of different species, accompanied by a crowd of vultures, came to supplant them, and
enjoy their share of the spoil.
It was then that the authors of all this devastation began their entry amongst the dead, the dying,
and the mangled. The Pigeons were picked up and piled in heaps, until each had as many as he
could possibly dispose of, when the hogs were let loose to feed on the remainder. More information about John James Audubon from Wikipedia
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