The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-07-23
A Bird That is Going.

country, III sullivan county, lasb "eoh,
said a New Yorker who was up in that
country trying the fishing, and that is
thu first flock that has been seen there
about for years, and it started the
Sullivan county woodsmen to talking
about the great passing of wild pigeons
of 1876, which was the last one ever seen
so far east.
The news of this great pigeon flight
first came from tho village of Barnum's
the last week III March, 1876. The air
suddenly became thick with an appar-
entity endless flock of wild pigeons,
which was passing over that part of the
county going northwaId. For over half
an hour the flight continued IN an
incessant procession obstructing all view
of the sky and giving to the surroundings
the sober appearance caused by the
gathering and passing OF thunder clouds.
1t was not known at that time how far
the flock extended to the eastward, but
it was subsequently learned that it reach
ed over twelve miles i'll a continuous
line. The birds we're flying too high to
be shot at with any degree of success,
although dnring the flight numbers OF
them were killed by unusually fortunate
gunners.
Old hunters said that the pigeons were
seeking nesting places, but from the
altitude OF their fight twas not probable
that they would rest snort o! the
Canadian forests. Two days aiterward
however, lumbermen from the head
waters of the Beaverkill and he bet Oh
woods of the adjacent wilderness OF
Sullivan, Delaware and Ulster counties
brought in news that those regions had
been taken in possession by wild pigeons
in untold numbers, and that they were
preparing for the nesting season.
This news led to law and order sports
men from the surrounding towns com
bining to take measures to protect the
birds from lawless destruction. The
woods were found to be literally swarm
ing with pigeons. Deputy game con
stables were stationed in considerable
force in the wilderness, with orders to
deal as summarily with gunners and
trappers as the law would warrant.
Unparalleled sport was anticipated Tor
the season after tue nesting was over
but unfortunately severe weather came
on soon after the birds had begun their
nesting. Snow fell to the depth of a
foot all through that region. After the
storm had ceased the game constables
and woodsmen noticed an unusual and
peculiar stir among the birds throughout
the length of the great roost, and at noon
on the fifth day of their coming into the
wilderness the pigeons began rising and
taking flight and IN few hours not a
pigeon was to be found in the entire
territory.
They flew almost due west. That
Same day before l o'clock in the alter
noon, Clint Walters and Isaac Bennett,
wood choppers and bark peelers were il
the depths of the Pccono beech woods,
then vast forest covering large areas in
Pike and Wayne, Luzerne and Monroe
counties, Pa. The sun was shining
brightly, when suddenly it was hidden
as if by dark cloud, and a noise lik e
that produced by gale Of wind or the
roll of distant thunder broke on their
ears. simultaneously the woods began
filling with Wild pigeons. Tree after
tree was filled, and still the air was black
with an apparently interminable mass OF
birds. The pigeons settled down in the
| trees in such numbers that great
and this occurring on every hand through
the woods was like a windfall i'll the
forest. The two men did not know
where the pigeons had come from so
suddenly, but when in course of time
| the news of their presence in the Penn
sylvania wilderness reached Sullivan
county, people there knew that the
pigeons were the ones that had been
driven from the Beaverkill county by
the great snow storm. The nearest
point in the Pennsylvania woods where
the birds rested after their flight from
New Yor k State is forty five miles from
the Beaverkil, almost due west, show
ing that the pigeons must have flown
nearly mile minute in changing their
resting places.
After the first excitement attending
the appearance of the vast colony of wild
pigeons around them had passed off,
Walters ard Bennett true to the instinct
of the human race, began to slaughter
the birds. They had no guns with them
but with long poles they slew the swarm
ing pigeons by the hundred. Every
sweep of a club laid scores of the birds
dead or wounded on the ground, but
hundreds dropped down 70 take their
places. According to their own story
the two men kept mp this ruthless and
entirely wanton destruction of the
pigeons until they sickened Of their work
and after they loaded themselves down
with as many of the dead birds as they
could carry, they left hundreds of the
dead and wounded on the ground, and
they had not stirred out of their tracks
in doing their Strengthening. For the
purpose of seeing how far the woods
were occupied by the pigeons, Walters
and Bennett walked five miles through
the forest. AS far as they could see on
either side the birds crowded every tree
full, and when they left the woods after
going that far through the pigeon colony
they could discover no evidence that
they were anywhere near its ending. 1t
was afterwards learned that the area
covered by the roost was eight miles in
length and four miles wide.
The excitement following the settling
of the pigeon colony in the woods was
intense, not only among the woodsmen,
but among the dwellers in the towns for
a hundred miles around. The woods
were filled constantly with not only men
but women and children, killing the nest
birds with guns and clubs. Immense
nets were set, in which thousa nds of
birds were captured. The pigeons were
not even allowed any rest at night.
Carrying torches, bands of destructive
hunters swarmed the woods after dark
and slaughtered without mercy. In
spite of all this the pigeons held their
roost and their young, remained until
the squads were old enough to look out
for themselves, and then took their flight
still moving westward.