The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-07-04

as if by a signal, and the sudden simulta-
neous stroke of their million wings, would
produce heavy atmospheric conclusions.
At first, while the food is near, the cocks
make four trips day, but by the time the
young ones come, food has become so dis
tant that two trips day is as much as
they can make, and now both males and
females go out in search of food to supply
the daily increasing demands, and leaving
the young ones alone, their incessant cries
and clamor for food are truly annoying.
A few days later, and they make but one
trip per day. Going out at early morn,
and returning at night. At this stage of
their nesting period, being at Columbus,
Miss, fifty miles south of their nursery,
and observing, about shutdown, many focks
of pigeons passing over, returning towards
their nests, I got an old shotgun, and
popped one of them down. When, greatly
to my surprise, found his crop full of live
oak Gurus rirens) acorns. The live oaks
nearest to that point, in that direction, are
in Florida, five hundred miles distant: and
more westerly, along the Gulf coast toward
Mobile. l returned home the next day,
seeing no pigeons all day, began to conjec-
ture, as you have in your articles, that now
they could fly they had removed their
young ones to where more convenient sup
plies could be obtained. When l arrived
at home all we're saying, "The pigeons are
gone.' They had all disappeared in sim
gle day.
concluded that would 60 out early
the next morning and try to find some
signs left, that could read, and ascertain
| if l could, the cause of their sudden de-
parture. When l came within mile Of
| the place next morning, the very singular,
| frying, kissing and confused sounds that
saluted my ears was utterly inexplicable.
The nearer | came to it the less / could
conceive what produced it, and the louder
it became, until it increased to perfectly
indiscribable clamor. All the frog ponds
in the world in full chorus could not CON-
pare with it. But entering the old nursery
the cause of the great clamor was discov-
the deserted young pigeons, screaming and
yelling at the top of their voice for some
thing to eat. My near approach did not
seem to alarm them. Their cries and
lamentatien distressed me so 1 had to leave.
could not get rid of the impression the
scene had made on me, and during the
night l conceived plan and prepared
large basket to take the young birds home
in, besides some peas and cold bread, with
which to allure and catch enough to fill my
basket. 1 intended to take them home
and treat them so kindly that they would
stay with me and would have a flock of
wild pigeons of my own. When l came
near with my basket l could hear no noise
of any kind, and on entering the old nest
ing place found every nest had been evac-
uatod, not bird an any description was to
seen or heard any where. There were no
indications left whereby could even ven-
ture a conjecture of what had become of
them. Opposite this place, in the Chicka-
saw Nation, and southwest, in the Chock-
taw country, lay vast prairie plains, which
at that time of the year (the first of May,)
were literally covered with strawberries,
that were just beginning to ripen, two
days after the young birds had abandoned
their nests, l heard they were on the
prairies, and were eating all the strawber-
ries and that the Indian boys were killing
them with sticks and packing home as
many as they could carry every day. They
said, "you eat up our strawberries, we will
eat you, Mr.. Pigeon" They remained
scattered over that extended prairie, Sleep
ing tow or three in bunch on the ground
until the strawberry season was over.
In riding over the prairie with my hunt
ing lamp on my head, during this period,
they were so often fluttering up from be-
meath my horses feet that they defeated
all attempts to get a venisOn on the prairie.
They fattened up on the strawberries
and were very nice for the table. There
seemed to be such countless numbers of
them spread over thousands of square
miles of the country, that l thought it
might be that the old birds had got with
them again, and towords the close of the
straberry season, when they we're all fat, l
went over the river into the prairie and
shot dozen brace of them. They were
all squads, and the Indians who were
canped around on the borders of the tim
| and berries, told me that they were all
"putchusee young ones. On being
asked what had become of the old ones,
they replied, the old ones had picked up
and fed to their hungry young all the
acorns and beach-nuts in the world; had
starved themselves until they could hardly
fly; the cries of the young were as loud as
ever; that there was nothing more in reach
to give them, and being about to perish
themselves, they concluded to leave the
starving young to their fate, and had gone
away nortu, where food was always plenty
after the ice had melted; that the young
ones had remained, starving on their nests
two days, when they made the discovery
that they could fly too, and rising above
the tall trees could see the plains, where
they Immediately pitched, and finding the
strawberries, had remained and got fat,
making plenty good meat for Aituek
hoppe Aooma-the red man. But" said
the Indian, &C this fat feast is nearly at an
end; two Or three days hence and all these
fat birds will be gone. A few little gangs
Of the old ones will come and tell them,
the food here, being exhausted, you must
go with us to more northern region,
where the berries are just now beginning
to be plenty. Then, making few rapid
and very wide gyrations over the far reach
ing prairies, the young ones, as with the
same impulse, will spring up, Tapping
their strong whirring winds, and will dis
appear like a storm cloud"
This is what the Indian told me; and so
it turned out. When l went four days
later to get another mess of the nice birds
before they felt, found that birds, Indians
and Strawberries had all disappeared. The
scene was lonesome.