Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-06-15

The propensity of wild pigeons to congregate
in multitudes at given seasons, is well known,
and many tremendous stories have been told of
them, the details of which were thought to make
heavy draft on public credulity. We have
now, however, authentic information from a
gentleman of the highest reputation, who pass.
ed last week in this section of Wisconsin we are
about to describe, of "roost' so enormous in
extent that it throws all the older accounts into
the shade.
Commencing near Kilbourne City, the breed
ing ground extends northward nine townships
in length, and probably more, with a variable
width of from ten TO twenty miles. The forests
within these limits are made up exclusively of
oak and evergreens of variety of species 1t
is a sandy district, embracing perhaps the poor
est soil in the state and apparently destitute of
food for even moderate focks of birds. Yet al
most continuously, over the whole area, every
tree and shrub is so loaded with nests as to be
past computation in numbers. On single pines,
from eighty to hundred were counted, when
the job had to be given up as impractcable.
Our informant, COL Henry Herndon, gives
some curious details of his experience on this
breeding ground, and of the habits of the pig
con when aggregated in such multitudes. The
nesting place is not, as would naturally be sup
posed, selected for any abundance of food, for
the pigeon can readily pass in an hour from fifty
to hundred miles, so that the range is really
across the entire state, and the multitude is so
innumerable that they have carried widespread
destruction among the grain fields. The male
attends the young during the middle of the day,
the female returning towards evening to take
charge, Only one egg was anywhere found in
a nest. The incubation lasts about two weeks,
and the young in short time after are ruthless
ly thrust out to take care of themselves, and de-
velope so rapidly that few days suffice to give
them full maturity. Probably the sex changes
alternately with each brood, as the process of
Matching goes on continuously. Millions of the
young perish, but it makes no appreciate diff
ference in the number The woods are alive
with wolves foxes and all the species of native
carnivora, who feed to repletion without max
ing any sensible reduction in the aggregate.
| Scores of hunters catch their thousands daily in
nets, and bands Of Indians are busy in drying
and preparing other thousands as a supply for
| next winters use. But all the shooting netting,
knocking from the trees with poles, and every
form of destructive agency, fails to make any
| sensible impression.
The scene, in the night time is described as
most remarkable. Impemerable hocks got be-
nighted while off feeding, and, as they return,
the roar of their wings through the forest is
Overpowering. They pile upon each other lit
orally in heaps, breaking the overburdened
brambles, and precipitating multitudes from
their perches upon the ground. The wild
| screaming of the birds, the Hopping of wings,
and the gatherings that fill the air as late as
| midnight, is truly appalling, while the odor
arising from the countless dead and the drop
| pings prOduce Stench almost lntOlerable.
The Clock" if that term is comprehensive
enough, is moving northward, and will probably
reach Lake Superior in June, when the ''season"
will close by return south, which gradually
takes place by way of Michigan. They proba-
bly, annually make great circuit, like the buff
ialo, from north to south, and return. Any one
curious to see this spectacle should take the cars
to Kilbourne City, and follow up the east side of
the Wisconsin river. The thousands brought
to market are caught at points far distant from
the herding grounds, so that the real locality is
not generally known.