Before sunset, I reached Louisville, fifty-five miles distant from
Hardensburgh. The pigeons were still passing, and continued for
three days. The banks of the river were crowded with men and
children, for here the pigeons flew rather low passing the Ohio.
The whole atmosphere, during the time, was full of the smell
belonging to the pigeon species. It is extremely curious to see
flocks after flocks follow exactly the same evolutions when they
arrive at the same place. If a hawk, for instance, has chanced to
charge a portion of the army at a certain spot, no matter what the
zigzags, curved lines, or undulations might have been during the
affray, all the following birds keep the same track; so that if a
traveller happens to see one of these attacks, and feels a wish to
have it repeated, he may do so by waiting a short time.
It may not perhaps be out of place to attempt an estimate of the
number of pigeons contained in one flock, and of the quantity of
food they daily consume.
We shall take, for example, a column, one mile in breadth, which is
far below the average size, and suppose the birds to pass over us,
without interruption, for three hours, at the rate we have
mentioned, of one mile in a minute. This will give us a line one
hundred and eighty miles long by one broad, and covering one hundred
and eighty square miles.
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