ater, remain there till it is exhausted, and then take flight
to some other place.

"Are you telling us a made-up story, Mother?" said Harry.

"No, Harry, it is really and truly the wild pigeon of America of
which I am speaking. Indeed, if it were not for their great power of
flight, they must, many of them, starve to death. A proof of their
swiftness is the fact that a pigeon has been killed in the
neighborhood of New York, with rice in his crop that he must have
swallowed in the fields of Georgia or Carolina."

"How could any one know that?" asked Harry.

"By remembering the fact that in one of those states is the nearest
spot at which the bird could have found rice growing. It is a well
ascertained fact that their power of digestion is so great, that
their food is in the course of twelve hours so entirely changed,
that one cannot know what it was. Now the distance of the rice
fields from New York--that is, the number of miles travelled in
twelve hours--is such that the pigeon must have flown at the rate of
about a mile in a minute; so that if he pleased he might go to
England in two days; but, Frank, if you will give me that pamphlet
that lies on the table, I will read the account of the wild pigeon
of America from the book itself."

"It was written by the celebrated Audubon, who resided a great many
years in America, and who most faithfully watched the birds he
described."

After giving an account of the speed of the pigeon, he goes on to
say, "This great power of flight is seconded by as great a power of
vision, which enables them, as they travel at that great rate, to
view objects below, and so discover their food with facility. This I
have proved to be the case by observing the pigeons, as they were
passing over a barren part of the country, keep high in the air, and
present such an extensive front as to enable them to observe
hundreds of acres at once."

"If, on the contrary, the land is richly covered with food, or the
trees with mast, (the fruit of the oak and beech trees,) the birds
fly low, in order to discover the portion of woods most plentifully
supplied, and there they alight. The form of body of these swift
travellers is an elongated (lengthened) oval steered by a long,
well-plumed tail,"--just as you know, Harry, you steer your boat by
the rudder in the great tub of water; "they are furnished with
extremely well set muscular wings. If a single bird is seen gliding
through the woods and close