52 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



THE PASSENGER PIGEON 



ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS, Ltflfl 



A Reminiscence 

 By Chas. Dury 

 As late as the 60's and early 70's the Wild Pigeons came to 

 southern Ohio in vast flocks. Their fall migrations were a 

 wonderful and impressive sight. These great flights most 

 frequently took place in October, although I have observed 

 them to begin in late September, and continue at intervals into 

 November. The usual time for the flight over Cincinnati and 

 vicinity was in the afternoon and evening, and generally when 

 the day was cloudy. The birds flew in long columns or strings, 

 side by side. They first appeared in the northwest, flying 

 towards and disappearing in the southeast. At times several 

 of these flocks would be in sight at one time, and they 

 were so long from end to end that they reached almost from 

 horizon to horizon. During the day they flew very high, out 

 of the range of shotguns. The present site of the Zoological 

 Garden was then a series of ridges, covered with scattered 

 beech trees, huge old ones, with dead tops. During the flight 

 of the pigeons I have stood on one of these ridges and fired at 

 pigeons as fast as I could reload my muzzle-loading gun, gen- 

 erally with scanty results, until dusk in the evening, when some 

 of the birds would descend and alight on the dead branches of 

 the tree tops, probably with the intention of resting for the 

 night. At such times a few birds were secured, but the num- 

 ber killed in that way was trifling when compared to the whole- 

 sale slaughter and exterminating methods of the professional 

 pigeon trappers. The birds did not come over in the spring 

 in any such numbers as they did in their autumn flight, and 

 probably returned by a different route. At times in the spring, 

 generally April, large flocks appeared in different patches of 

 forest in this vicinity, where they remained for some days. 

 It was in seasons when the beechnuts were abundant on the 

 ground, and they fed on these nuts as long as any of them 



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