Occurrence in Lar*e Numbers of Srcenteen Species of Birds. 



OX THE OCCURRENCE IN LARGE NUMBERS OF 



SEVENTEEN" SPECIES OF BIRDS. 



By F. W. Langdon, M.D. 



(Contributed by request to the proceedings of the Linnaean Society of 

 New York, at the meeting of February I. 1S89. 



[Read by abstract, Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Sept. 2, 1889.] 

 Mr. President and Members of the Society : 



The following extracts from the writer's notebooks are presented 

 as bearing upon the special subject set for discussion at this meeting. 

 Some of them have been already published in other connections 

 as indicated: others have not heretofore been made public. 



The writer sincerely regrets his inability to comply with the 

 kind invitation of the Society, to be present in person and partici- 

 pate in the discussion. The A. O. U. check-list is followed in 

 enumeration and nomenclature. 



221. Fulica Americana. Gmel. American Coot. From the 

 25th to the 30th of October. 1874. I observed this species congre- 

 gated in immense flocks at St. Mary's Reservoir (an artificial lake 

 constructed for canal purposes in Mercer and Auglaize Counties. 

 Ohio, about 130 miles north of Cincinnati). 



Many acres of water were covered by these flocks for several 

 days. The birds frequented open and exposed situations, merely 

 flying far enough from the observer to keep generally out of gun- 

 shot. The weather was warm and bright. A sudden " cold snap," 

 producing a slight film of ice — about the 1st of November — caused 

 their complete disappearance in a single night. 



315. Ectopistes migratorius, Linn. Passenger Pigeon. One 

 of the most notable occurrences oi birds, numerically speaking, in 

 the vicinity of Cincinnati, was the flight of wild pigeons which 

 took place in the fall of 1865. 



While I took no written notes of it at the time. I can distinctly 

 recall the clouds of these birds that passed over the city and 

 suburbs during the greater portion of three whole days, the air at 

 times being literally darkened by them. Immense numbers were 

 shot from the elevated ground surrounding the city, and scattered 



