May 8, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
755 
THE WILD PIGEONS OF OLD. 
I 
Goshen, N. Y., March 4. —It was the habit 
of the wild pigeon in the days when its nestings 
or its flights were of familiar annual occurrence 
in this State and Pennsylvania to make its ap¬ 
pearance sometimes as early as the latter part 
of February, and almost always while the 
boisterous March winds were still prevailing and 
the snow was still deep in the woods, says a 
writer in the Sun. So the news that came down 
from the neighborhood of Livingston Manor, 
Sullivan county, last,week, that a flock of wild 
pigeons had flown over the place a few days 
before and had begun preparations for nesting 
in the woods along the Beaverkill was not re¬ 
garded as improbable on account of the favor¬ 
able time of year. 
Interested persons lost no time in making 
investigation of the truth of this report, for if 
the wild pigeon had reappeared in the Sullivan 
county woods, even as but a small isolated flock, 
it would be something surprising, for it has been 
twenty years since wild pigeons had been seen. 
But, like numerous similar reports of the reap¬ 
pearance of this bird, sometimes in lone pairs 
and sometimes in small flocks, that have come 
from various parts of the country where the 
pigeon was in its day wont to assemble in great 
number, this Sullivan county rumor was found 
to have no foundation in fact. 
It has called to mind the fact, however, that 
the last flight of wild pigeons as far east as New 
York was into and from the beech woods of 
Sullivan county and the adjacent woods of 
Ulster and Delaware counties thirty-two years 
ago, although previous to that, as far as the 
memory of man went back, not a year had 
passed when, if they had not nested somewhere 
in those or other New York woods, they had 
flown over in countless thousands, seeking nest¬ 
ing and feeding places elsewhere. 
The circumstances attending that last appear¬ 
ance of wild pigeons in New York were extra¬ 
ordinary. The first news of the flight came from 
the village of Barnum’s, in Sullivan county, the 
last week in March. The air suddenly became 
filled with _ an apparently endless flock of 
pigeons, which was passing northward. It was 
not known at the time how far the flock ex¬ 
tended to the eastward, but subsequent reports 
from that direction fixed it at twelve miles in 
an unbroken line. It obstructed all view of the 
sky and gave to the surroundings the sombre 
appearance caused by the passing of thunder 
clouds. The birds were flying high, so high that 
old woodsmen declared it unlikely that the birds 
would rest short of the Canadian forests. 
Two days afterward, however, lumbermen 
from the headwaters of the Beaverkill and the 
beach woods of Ulster and Delaware counties 
brought in the word that those regions had been 
taken possession of by wild pigeons in numbers 
that covered miles of the forest area, and that 
they were preparing for the nesting season. 
The woods were found to be swarming with 
pigeons. As usual, the slaughter promptly be¬ 
gan. It was cut short, though, for while the 
pigeons were busy with their preparations for 
nesting a heavy snowstorm began. Snow fell 
to the depth of more than a foot all through 
that region. When the storm had ceased an 
unusual and peculiar stir was noticed through¬ 
out the length and breadth of that great roost 
and at noon on the fifth day after their coming 
into that wilderness the pigeons took fight and 
before the middle of the afternoon not a bird 
was to be seen anywhere in that wide extent of 
wood where there had been millions. The 
pigeons had flown due west. 
About I o’clock on the day of the flight of 
the pigeons from the Sullivan county woods 
lumbermen at work in the depths of the Pocono 
beech woods, then a vast forest covering por¬ 
tions of Pike, Wayne, Luzerne and Monroe 
counties in Pennsylvania, heard a noise as of 
a coming gale of wind or the roll of distant 
thunder. The sun was shining brightly, but sud¬ 
denly it was hidden as by a cloud. These phe¬ 
nomena weresoon explained, for the woods be¬ 
gan filling with wild pigeons. Tree after tree 
was filled and still the air was black. When 
the last flock or rear guard of the flight had 
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THE 
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RHYMES OF THE STREAM AND FOREST 
FRANK MERTON BUCKLAND 
One of the freshest, most delig’htfiil collections of outdoor verse offered for 
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Postpaid, $1.25 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO., New York. 
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