Show A BIRI p IS GOING THE WILD PIGEON HAS 1 disappeared t no conr seen in such cloud clouds for the L lacot 1 albl n no AW 5 seau acu ecu in clr th lat rt r t lian Js in the went f ift 11 flock looks are not common aowad ay A boll tary flock of wild pigeons flying westward passed over the beaverkill neaver klU country in sullivan county dinst week said a new yorker who was up in that country trying the fishing and that is s the first nock flock that has been seen there about for or year years and it started the sullivan county woodsmen woodsman woods men to talking about the great passing of wild pigeons of 1879 1676 which w was as the last one ever men so far east enst the news of this great pigeon night int came from the village of the last week in march 1876 abo air suddenly became thick with an tn apparently endless flock of wild pigeons which was it passing over that part of the country going northward for over halt an hour the flight continued in aa an incessant procession obstructing all view of the iky and giving 1 to the surroundings the comber somber appearance 1 caused by the gathering and passing of thunderclouds thunder clouds it was not known at that time how tar far the flock extended to the eastward but it was bub subsequently jear learned 11 ed that it reached over twelve miles in la a continuous line the birds were fl flying y too high to be shot at with any degree deg re e of success although during the flight numbers of them were killed by unusually I 1 fortunate gunners old hunters said that the pigeons were seeking nesting places but from front the altitude of their flight it was not probable that they would rest short of the canadian forema its two days afterward however lumbermen from the be headwaters adwaters of the bea v arkill and the beech woods of the adjacent c wildernesses wilder nesses of sullivan delaware and ul ulster ter counties brought in news that those regions had bad been taken in possession pigeons in untold numbers numb cra and that they were preparing tor for the nesting heason this new news led to law and find order sportsmen from the surrounding rounding eur towns combining to take measures to protect the birds t from lawless destruction the woods were found to be literally swarming with pigeons deputy game constables were stationed I 1 in considerable force in ili the wilderness w with ith orders to deal aa as summarily with gunners and trappers as the law mir would warrant unparalleled sport was anticipated for the season after the nesting was over but unfortunately severe weather came on soon after the birds had begun their nesting the depth of a foot nil all through that region after the storm had ceased the game constables tind and woodsmen woodsman woods men noticed an unusual and peculiar pecullar stir among the birds throughout the length and breadth of the great roost and nd at noon on the fifth day of their coming coining into the wilder wilderness the pigeons began rising and taking flight and in ft a few bours not a pigeon was to he be found in the entire territory they flew almost due west that same iny day before I 1 in the afternoon clint waters and isaac bennett woodchoppers mid and bark peeler pe elers were in the depths of the pocono beech woods then a vast forest covering largo large areas in pile pike wayne lu berno and monroe counties pa the sun waa shining brightly when suddenly it was hidden as it if by a dark cloud and a noisa like that produced by a gale of wind or the roll of distant thunder broke on 0 their ears simultaneously the woods began filling with wild pigeons tree after tree was filled and still the airway air was black blach with an apparently interminable mass of i birds the pigeons settled down in the trees in an such c h numbers that great branches broke ben beneath et th their weight and this occurring on every hand through the tile woods was like a windfall vind fall in ili the forest the two men did not know where the pigeons had 4 come from front so suddenly but when lo 10 course of time the news of their presence in tho the pennsylvania wilderness reached sullivan county people there knew that the pigeons were the ones that had been driven from froin the Deaver beaverkill kIll county by the great snowstorm the nearest point in the tile pennsylvania woods where tile birds rested after flight from new york state Is forty five miles from the beaverkill almost due west showing that tile pigeons must have ha e flown nearly a mile a minute in changing 14 their resting place after the first excitement attending tile appearance of the vast colony of wild pigeons around them had passed off oft walters lind and bennett true to the tile instinct of the tile human race began to slaughter the birds they bad had no guns with them but with long poles they slew tho the swarming pigeons by the hundred every sweep of a club laid 4 s of tile birds dead or wounded on ou the th und but hundreds dropped down to tai to heir places according to their own owna the two men kept up tip this ruthless I 1 ess pi 11 wanton destruction of the pigeons aiu til they sickened of their work ind and afi aft r they loaded themselves down with LL i diany of the dead birds as they could carry they left hundreds of dead and wounded on the ground and they had bad not stirred out ont of their tracks in doing their for the purpose of seeing bow holy far the woods were occupied by the pigeons walters and bennett walked five miles through ith the forest As far As a they could see on either side the birds crowded every tree full and when they left tho the woods after going that far through the pigeon colony they could discover no evidence that they were anywhere near its ending it 11 was afterward atterb ard learned thattie that the area covered bythe by the roost was eight gilleo in ili length and four miles wide the excitement following the settling of the pigeon colony in the woods was in tenee not only among the woodsmen woodsman woods men but among the dwell dwellers ersin in the towns for a hundred milea miles around the woods were filled constantly with not only men but women and children killing tho the nesting birds with guns and clubs immense nets were set in which thousands and thousands ce of birds were captured the pigeons were not even allowed any rest at night carrying torches bands of destructive hunters warmed swarmed in tn the woods after dark and slaughtered without mercy in spite of nil all this the pigeons held their roost and their young remained until the squabs squats were old enough to look out for them beaves and then took their flight still moving westward that was the last visitation of wild pigeons in localities so far east in the united states tt where here ro was formerly a frequent occurrence the farthest east the wild pigeons have roosted since then was in northwestern pennsylvania in 1681 bi binco ericc then the bird birds have entirely disappeared from front the east and will never bo be seen here again they have been driven to the tile wilds of Alic michigan higan the indian territory and other isolated haunts and in a few year years will wit I 1 be numbered among the ex net birde birds of the american continent new york sun |