12 
 
 
scrubby. The pigeons have literally taken possession of the woods, 
and their nests are to be seen on every tree. On one tree he counted 
forty-six nests, and thinks there must have been at least a hundred on 
some of the larger ones." Kelley says: "The first belt of timber
we 
came to shows signs of the kame, and no sooner have we struck the solid 
forest than we come upon the deserted nests in great quantities, the 
birds having been driven back or killed. Every tree is full of the nests,

--often we counted thirty in a single tree .... Whatever induced the 
pigeons to stop here is more than I can comprehend. All the soil you 
find is bottomless drifts of white sand, capable only of producing little

scrubby oaks and stunted pines, which appear to be better adapted to 
bearing pigeons' nests than foliage." 
  For Friendship (Adams County Press, April 15) we read: "A 
gentleman informs us that he counted forty nests on one tree, and he 
don't think it was a very good day for nests, either." 
    The writer for the Fond du Lac Commonwealth (May 20) visited 
that portion of the Kilbourn nesting extending along the shore of the 
Wisconsin River. It is probable that some of his figures need revision, 
but it should be mentioned that here the trees were much larger than 
on the sandy plains. He states: "Leaving the rest of the party, we 
drove off a few miles further into a high wooded ridge, where the 
nests were located. Every tree contained from one to four hundred 
nests .... We saw more than a hundred trees that had fallen, by rea- 
son of the number of nests built upon its branches." 
    I have found no estimate of the number of nests per tree at the 
western end of the nesting, but the Sparta Eagle (May 12) says: 
"Never in the history of the La Crosse Valley were such myriads of 
pigeons seen cutting the air in all directions, and making the whole 
valley resound with the noise of their constant fluttering. From early 
morn to dewy eve the air is filled with flocks of the swift-flying birds,
so 
numerous that no man can number them." 
    I have been so bold as to make an estimate of the number of nest- 
ing birds within the main area. It will be noted that the statements 
of various observers give from one nest per tree to as high as four 
hundred. Consideration must also be given to the fact that every acre