316 PASSENGER PIGEON.

have been captured in our northern countries, to which
they have been driven by gales of wind. Several spec-
jmens are cited as having been taken in England,
Norway, and Russia. Its range extends from the Gulf
of Mexico, over the United States to Canada, and as
far as Hudson’s and Baffin’s Bays.

Its principal food consists of the nuts of the red beech.
They live in companies, often of many thousands, their
numbers. covering a space of many miles in extent; and
their place of repose is marked by the devastation they
occasion amongst the trees. They breed in such large
companies, that from sixty to a hundred nests are placed
in a single tree. The nests are composed of small sticks,
and appear to contain only a single white egg each.”