Wmc- Xjiimaean Bos, of N. Y, 88-83 
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(itZo-i-o) 
About the 'first of September, when there was a strong northwest wind, 
Passenger Pigeons ( Ectopistes migratorius ) were sure to appear in great 
numbers, flying more abundantly in the morning, though there were oc- 
casional flocks all day. From our place north to Fort Washington Point, 
three miles distant, the view was unobstructed, and forthe entire distance 
it was almost an unbroken forest. We could see the flocks make their 
appearance over the Point, consisting of from twenty-five to over a hun- 
dred Pigeons, and come sweeping down over the tree tops seemingly at a 
speed of about 75 miles an hour, and consequently they soon reached the 
position where we were awaiting them. The flocks followed each other 
in quick succession, and as they dashed by before a strong northwester 
sometimes quite close to the ground— they did not offer an easy mark for 
even an expert gunner. I never succeeded in killing more than four 
with one shot, from a passing flock. 
On the south side of Manhattanville Valley the ground is elevated, 
much the same as it is on the north side. Here is one of the old country 
seats on the Hudson River, known as ‘Claremont,’ and this place was 
fixed upon as the most eligible sight for General Grant’s Tomb. The 
original fine dwelling house is still in good condition. During one of 
these great flights of Pigeons, the house was occupied by some gentleman, 
whose name I cannot recall, but I remember that from the top of the 
house, in one morning, a hundred or more were shot by him. These 
flights continued as long as I lived at Manhattanville, and Pigeons were 
quite abundant, I was informed, for some years after, but at the present 
time a single one would he a rarity. Even into October there would he 
a flight when the wind was favorable, but in the earlier flights they were 
the most abundant. 
Awls, -3 „ Ap , . 1889, p„ 202 
Former Abundance of the Wild Pigeon in Central and Eastern New York 
— During the early years of my boyhood Wild Pigeons abounded in great 
numbers in central New York. One case in particular I well remember 
in the spring of, I think, 1835. The southeastern part of the township of 
New Hartford, Oneida Co., N. Y., became for several days their feeding 
grounds. This region abounded in beech forests, upon the nuts of which 
trees they delighted to feed. For several days, beginning with the early 
dawn and extending to near the middle of the forenoon, the flight of these 
birds was almost incessant, and in the afternoon and evening their re- 
turn was equally as phenomenal ; their roost was reported as being in the 
town of Norwich, Chenango Co., a distance of about fifty miles. The 
flocks were so large and numerous that they appeared almost more like 
clouds, and during the most active part of the time many flocks would be 
in' sight from any one point of observation. Their flight was also very 
low, probably owing to the close proximity of their feeding grounds, and 
caused the noise from their passage over our heads to be very perceptible, 
resembling the rushing sound of a heavy wind. Many of the smaller 
flocks would fly so low, that it induced the workmen from a neighboring 
machine-shop to try to kill them by striking among them with long poles ; 
this failed, however, for some time, as the flocks simply parted and al- 
lowed the pole to pass through without hitting any 01 che birds. After a 
time my father suggested that they strike in the direction of the flight, 
when, the birds being unable to see the pole, many of them were destroyed 
in this manner. I well remember my brother and myself standing in the 
garden, watching them as they passed over our heads, and throwing our 
caps at them, which would pass through the parting ranks without hitting 
a bird, the gap beirj closed again almost instantly, and not seeming to 
check their rapid passage in the least. 
Many of the people in the vicinity employed nets to catch them. Going 
into the woods where they alighted in the quest of food, a spot of ground 
was prepared, the net set so as to be thrown over the spot by the rebound 
of a young sapling placed soas to be strongly bent under tension which 
when relieved would instantly carry the net over the prepared area. A 
living Pigeon, having been caught and a cord fastened to it, was allowed, 
to fly into the air on the approach of a flock, when, on being drawn back 
to the ground, its cry would attract them, and they would follow and settle 
on the prepared ground where food had been scattered. Then the net was 
thrown across, and large numbers entrapped. A farmer, Mr. Oxford, 
whose farm was within their feeding ground and whose newly sown 
fields they were injuring, obtained my father’s net in the morning, and 
by night, with the aid of his two sons, had a pile of dead pigeons which 
would have made more than one wagon load. The Indians from a dis- 
tance came and camped in the vicinity, procured vast numbers of them, 
salted and packed them in barrels, and carried them away in quantities. 
At a still later period, in the early sixties, on the mornings of two or 
three consecutive days, large numbers of Wild Pigeons passed up the Hud- 
son Valley crossing over the City of Albany. One of these mornings the 
flocks were uncommonly large. Three in particular which passed north- 
ward in quick succession, so that all were in sight at the same time, were 
so large and dense that the shadow cast on the ground as they passed 
was like the shadow of a passing cloud, being easily perceptible. The 
Hudson Valley at this point from the level of the plateau on the west to 
Cantonment Hill on the east, must be two and a half miles or more in 
width. Standing on the crest of the hill to the south of the city, the 
east and west extremities of each of these three flocks were invisible, al- 
though they were at a great height; the end’s dwindled away in the dis- 
tance, appearing only as a faint shadow. I noticed a few days after in the 
newspapers a statement that there was an unusually large ‘pigeon roost’ 
near Fort Edward, 
