THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 193 



Kean County, in a recent widely published article on 

 the wild game of his home locality, has this to say con- 

 cerning the Passenger Pigeons : 



PIGEONS. 



The extermination of the wild pigeons which came 

 to this section every spring, from April to June, in 

 countless numbers, is one of the things the present 

 generation has to mourn. 



They came in great flights that shut off the sun- 

 light, like a dark cloud, while they were passing. They 

 were about the size of a tame dove, but a neater bird. 

 Their color was a light slate, with beautifully silver 

 tinged band around the neck. 



Many of the older residents recall the time when 

 pigeons nested throughout this vicinity. T. L. Sart- 

 well recalls a time when he was a boy when pigeons 

 nested on Potato Creek at Smethport. 



The cocks or male pigeons would fly first from 

 about seven to nine in the morning and the hens or 

 female birds would fly from nine to eleven. The 

 valley and hillside would be literally blue in color from 

 the countless numbers. A good beech nut year, al- 

 ways meant a good pigeon year. 



When they nested every tree and limb of the forest 

 v/ould be weighed down. At such a time men from 

 all parts of the country, hearing of the nesting, would 

 gather to get the squabs or young pigeons that had not 

 yet learned to fly. In order to get them the hunters 

 would cut down the trees in which thev roosted and 



