THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 93 



vague impression of the immensity of the number of 

 birds, and the peculiarity of the gentle cooing sounds 

 that filled the woods, I had a desire to again visit a 

 nesting place. T wislied to get a lietter conception of 

 what would be going on there. 



It was in tlie spring of i(S55, 1 think, a chance to 

 gratify this desire presented itself. One evening in 

 April while conversing with a number of gentlemen 

 on the corner of a street in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, 

 one of them, an old resident of Potter county, raised 

 his hand and pointed toward the crest of the wooded 

 hill west of the village and called out : 



"See that, gentlemen. See those pigeons circling 

 in and out of the woods, up there ; pigeons are going 

 to nest on the ridge. I know from the actions of those 

 birds that they are spying out the land to find a suit- 

 able place for a nesting of the coming flock. I have 

 seen them do it before." 



"But," queried a bystander, "how will they convey 

 the intelligence that such a place has been found?" 



"Don't know. But, mind what I tell you; those 

 woods will hQ full (^f ])igenns 1)}' da^dight tomorrow 

 morning." 



Others of the group were quite sure that the first 

 gentleman's prediction was correct. What was guess- 

 ed at was assumed to be a fact. 



It took but a brief time to spread the news through- 

 out the town. Every owner of a gun prepared to go 

 for pigeons in the morning. 



