Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1859-12-16

A NiGfir IN A PIaEon Roosr.-Just
now the wild pigeons roost in innumerable
numbers in the Chenango Swamp, Craw.
fo'd county, Pa. about two mi'es cast cf the
Ohio line. The swamp is about ten miles
long by two or three wide, grown up with
taiiiarack or larch trees and older business
The editor of the Ashtabula SeniiNel hx1
been among the pigeons. He says:
when within two miles Of the ruosina.
pla"e, we began to hear the roar uf tie
wings of millions of birds there congregat.
ed, which literally equaled the roar Of Mia
CARA. But the sights and soun Is that ef,.ets
ed us as we neared the swamp. beggar des.
cr!ption. There were probably hundred
hunters assembled and at work. These
were dvi led into parties Of not more than
two or ihrcc--some in the tamaracks and
some in the al,iers. At shot fired In the
bushes the birds rose in mass and settl,d
on the trees; and when fired upon there,
they flew to the bushes. This changing
continued all night. AT single shot, tho
flock always rose and few short distances
to settle or be fired upon again. This secns
lasted all night.
The USUAL fiode of hunting the pigeons,
is for two filen 10 20 together -one with .
gum and the other with bag and lantern
and matches. As soon rs the shot is fred,
the bag-man strikes a light, sd bags tho
birds and this must be done speedily, or
the wounded ones will hide and be lost.
Six dozen is qnitc a heavy load for any
mar. We gin eout' under five dozen, very
soon. We were told to fire with one bar
rel at the bushes, and with the other at the
bile up The term boil up. is very nat.
ural one; for at every shot, the flock viii
rise straight upward and after circlinga
few moments, make a swooping course, and
then alight perhaps within few yards of
where they rose. The number killed seems
almost incredible. One man killed four
dozen at a single shot, and nine hundred in
the night.
Pigeon buyers take the birds as fast "a
killed, at twenty cents dozen, and they
are Immediately shipped for New York.
They have station on an island in the
swamp, and employ man TO blow horn
all night, to direct the hunters to their
camp"
The Sentinel says,
"The habits Of these birds are an intefs
esting study. They appear to have no in.
dividuality; and all their actions are in
flocks--the flocks seeming to be the indi-
vidual. AT night they come in focks, and
in the morning they make up in focks to
leave, uniting smaller into larger ones, when
the appearance is like swarm of bees.
At the sight of a fash,hey instantly changs
their course or scatter. We noticed an It'd.
mense flock like cloud, when large me-
teor shot athwart the sky, at the scintillation
Of which the feathered host scattered in all
directions. In the morning, little afier
sunrise, they begin TO leave, and in fifteen
minutes they are gone, spreading in all di-
rectious over the country to feed. From
this roost they dverge daily in all directions
over district whose diameter is probably
200 miles, to return again every night, and
be hunted from bush to bush, and kept in
motion by the rapaciiy of man, instead of
the rest that Nature directed them to seek
in this sequestered resort"