job."

"How very kind, Uncle Thomas! Had they been reasoning creatures, they
could not have behaved more properly."

"I dare say not, Frank. Such traits overstep the limits of _instinct_,
and almost trespass on that of reason."

"You asked, Frank, if it was want of food which prompted the flight of
migratory animals from one place to another. In some cases it is so,
undoubtedly; as for instance, in that which I am now going to tell you
about, the American passenger pigeon; it is from the work of the great
naturalist, Wilson.

"The migrations of these pigeons appear to be undertaken rather in quest
of food than merely to avoid the cold of the climate; since we find them
lingering in the northern regions around Hudson's Bay so late as
December, and since their appearance is so casual and irregular,
sometimes not visiting certain districts for several years in any
considerable numbers, while at other times they are innumerable. I have
often witnessed these migrations in the Genesee country, often in
Pennsylvania, and also in various parts of Virginia, with amazement; but
all that I have seen of them are mere straggling parties, when compared
with the congregated millions which I have since beheld in the western
forests in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory.
These fertile and extensive regions abound with the nutritious beech
nut, which constitutes the chief food of the wild pigeon. In seasons
when these nuts are abundant, corresponding multitudes of pigeons may be
confidently expected. It sometimes happens, that having consumed the
whole produce of the beech trees in an extensive district, they discover