16 May 2014

Visit to Pigeon Roost on Wolf Creek

The Palestine (Texas) Advocate describes a recent visit made by the editor to a pigeon's roost on Wolf creek, some twenty or thirty miles above Palestine. The company arrived at the roost before night, and when the pigeons were absent. They wee stuck with astonishment at the havoc the pigeons had made. "On all sides large trees were either broken or twisted down, and the trunks of towering oaks literally stripped of the branches." About sundown they heard a loud roaring to the North, and looking up they saw the front of a large column of birds approaching, and for several minutes it "continued to pour along in one unbroken stream." Directly, others came from every direction, "until the whole air appeared to be full of them." The company commenced operations after dark, shooting them by torch light, bringing down fifteen or twenty at a shot, until they had bagged as many as they desired, and then started for home.

January 16, 1857. News brevities. Daily Nashville Patriot 21(346): 2. From the Palestine Advocate.