[11] It was dangerous to
walk under these flying and fluttering millions, from the frequent fall
of large branches, broken down by the weight of the multitudes above,
and which in their descent often destroyed numbers of the birds
themselves; while the clothes of those engaged in traversing the woods
were completely covered with the excrements of the pigeons.
"These circumstances were related to me by many of the most respectable
part of the community in that quarter, and were confirmed in part by
what I myself witnessed. I passed for several miles through this same
breeding-place, where every tree was spotted with nests, the remains of
those above described. In many instances I counted upwards of ninety
nests on a single tree; but the pigeons had abandoned this place for
another, 60 or 80 miles off, towards Green River, where they were said
at that time to be equally numerous. From the great numbers that were
constantly passing over our heads to or from that quarter, I had no
doubt of the truth of this statement. The mast had been chiefly consumed
in Kentucky; and the pigeons, every morning a little before sunrise, set
out for the Indiana territory, the nearest part of which was about sixty
miles distant.
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