Recollections of the Passenger Pigeon ' 



BY HERMAN BEHB 



In Sullivan and Wyoming counties of Pennsylvania the 

 Loyalsock and Mehoopany Creeks, one flowing to the west and 

 the other to the north branch of the Susquehanna River, make 

 their headwaters almost together. Near the divide was situated 

 my home and here I enjoyed some memorable experiences with 

 the Wild Pigeon, the name by^ which we then knew it. In all 

 directions from twelve to thirty miles in radius stretched a dense 

 wilderness, thickly grown with hemlock, spruce, birch, maple, 

 and beech trees, the last being the most abundant. Under 

 favorable weather conditions the beech-nut crop was very large 

 and, as it provided the principal food for the Wild Pigeons in 

 this section, its size conditioned their appearance and numbers. 

 The spring following a fine crop of beech-nuts would invariably 

 witness a notable flight of Pigeons and the abundance of their 

 special delicacy would tempt them to stay through the summer 

 months. 



It was in April more than in any month of the spring that 

 their arrival could be expected. Then, when the last white of 

 winter had vanished before the warm breath of a southwest 

 wind, the flying host of wings would be seen coming on with 

 the wind at terrific speed. In flocks of a hundred or of thou- 

 sands they would gradually overspread the sky, flying at differ- 

 ent altitudes, but all of them coursing in the same direction. 

 Those, which expected to alight in the vicinity, flew low just 

 above the tree-tops, while others, whose goal was farther on, 

 passed over at high altitude, some four to six hundred feet 



^"This description," Mr. Behr writes, "is given from memory, and the 

 different years when they (the Passenger Pigeons) appeared were taken from 

 a record which I kept of the different game I shot. " He adds: " I tried to 

 give only what I am sure to be correct." 



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