Wild Pigeons History from Massachusetts

From the Hingham Gazette.

Large flocks of pigeons passed over this town, on Sunday and Monday last. Their course appeared to be, from an easterly to a westerly direction. The migrations of this species of birds, are not periodical, so far as we can discover, but are regulated alone by their means of obtaining subsistence. Nuttall says, they are found from Mexico to Hudson Bay, and as far west as the Rocky mountains, but are not known beyond these barriers. They do not emigrate on account of climate, their thick covering enabling them to endure the most severe cold. The rapidity of their flight is remarked by all ornithologists. It is supposed that they fly at the rate of a mile in a minute. The numbers of the flocks are without parallel in the history of the feathered race. Nearly the whole species in the continent are sometimes found together. Their general roosts are in the thickest forests where there is little underwood and the forest appears as if devastated by the whirlwind. In 1807, their breeding place was in Kentucky, near Shelbyville; it was forty miles in length by 3 in breadth, where they collected by millions. After occupying this place for several years, they removed to the banks of Green River, in that State, where they assembled in immense numbers. Wilson, the ornithologist counted 99 nests in a single tree, and the forest was filled with them. It is said that so great is the fecundity of this bird, that from a single pair, fifteen thousand may be produced in four years. Nuttall relates and account given by Hon. T.H. Perkins, as follows.

"About the year 1708, while he was passing through New Jersey, near Newark, the flocks continued to pass at least two hours without cessation; and he learnt from the neighboring inhabitants, that descending upon a large pond to drink, those in the rear alighting upon the backs of the first that arrived (in the usual order of their movements on land to feed) pressed them beneath the surface, so that tens of thousands were thus drowned. They were likewise killed in great numbers, at the roost, with clubs."

Notwithstanding the immense numbers destroyed by birds of prey and by man, still no diminution of their numbers is perceptible.

April 10, 1832. Wild pigeons. Rhode Island American and Gazette 3(75): 1.

Value of Wild Pigeons in Essex County and Boston

In Essex County, Mass., the value of the wild pigeons annually captured is $20,000. In some towns 3,000 dozen are taken every year. They bring about a dollar a dozen in the Boston Market.

June 2, 1859. Wild pigeons. Jeffersonian 18(23): 2.

Great Squirrel Hunt in 1847 Massachusetts

November 18, 1847. Litchfield (Conn.) Republican 1(21): 1.

A Great Squirrel Hunt lately came off at Northampton, Massachusetts. The sportsmen were divided into two parties of 50 each — one headed by Col. Thayer, the other by Major Cook. The Colonel's party came off the winner, having killed between six and seven hundred the most. The following is the list of game produced by both parties:

Foxes 5, Grey Squirrels 555, Red do. 3157, Striped do. 2442, Wood Peckers 728, Flying Squirrels 6, Raccoons 38, Crows 35, Hawks 23, Larks 2, Owls 32, Blue Jays 529, Weasels 3, Partridges 130, Muskrats 69, Woodchuck 1, Rabbits 68, Woodcocks 3, Pigeons 58, Ducks 2.

Making a total, as usually counted by sporting parties, of over nineteen thousand! Hand over the hat. — Waterbury Amer.

Squirrel Hunt in 1854 Massachusetts

S.C. P. A squirrel hunt. Pittsfield Sun 55(2819): 2. Issued September 28, 1854. Also September 29, 1854 in New York Daily Times 4(946): 6; October 2, 1854 in Daily Evening Star (Washington D.C.) 4(547): 2. The hunt occurred on September 19th.

One of those murderous affairs, yelopt a squirrel hunt, by forty-six young men of New Boston, Mass., came off last week. It was of two days duration, and the results of the hunt are thus stated in a letter to the Springfield Republican:

"1 wild cat, 7 red foxes, 29 raccoons, 76 wood-chucks, 101 rabbits, 21 owls, 43 hawks, 103 partridges, 14 quails, 39 crows, 620 grey squirrels, 2,493 red squirrels, 1,020 striped do., 5 wild ducks, together with a very great number of pigeons, woodpeckers, blue and yellow jays, and other birds. It had been arranged how much each kind of game should count and it was found that the game on both sides amounted to 15,445.

How Pigeons are Caught in Massachusetts

About $20,000 of wild pigeons are caught in Essex County, Mass. every season, and how do our readers suppose they are caught?

They are first attracted to certain places in the woods cleared of brushwood by strewing grain on the ground. Thus they are drawn by habit to the places where they are to be snared, and are at the same time fatted by the grain thrown to them.

When a sufficient number have congregated to make it worth while to entrap them the grain is saturated with whiskey, which steals away their brains, and being stupefied, they become willing victims of the trappers.

The net is then by the use of saplings as springs thrown over the fuddled flock, and when they attempt to rise they are tangled in its meshes.

Poor pigeons! They would not willingly take the whiskey, by which they are snared to their ruin, but they are deceived and so led captive.

And how many young men are snared in the same way. If they would let intoxicating liquor alone which steals away their brains, they would escape many a net that is thrown over them.

How many have committed crimes under the influence of liquor, over which they have afterwards shed bitter tears, and from which they would have shrunk back in horror were they sober. The wine-cup leads thousands into nets they attempt in vain to extricate themselves.

Let our young readers and older ones too if they are yielding to a dangerous habit remember how pigeons are caught! If you would keep out of snares that will prove fatal to reputation, prosperity, health and life, beware of intoxicating drinks.

Every community has its traps for catching just such pigeons, and every community alas furnishes too many just silly enough to be caught.

There goes one now, while we are writing, for his morning dram! He sees not the net that is being woven for him. Poor pigeon! His little ones will perhaps suffer for his folly.

July 14, 1859. How pigeons are caught. Rockland County Messenger 14(11): 2.

Sporting in Massachusetts

From the Boston (Mass.) Advocate, Aug. 30.

Horrid Massacre. — A set of infamous loafers down at Orleans have been guilty of the vile practice of ??ering the marsh plover by torch light. The mode of butchery is to kindle a fire near where the birds roost, when they flutter round it in immense flocks, and are swept down in scoop nets by the villains who thus violate the laws. The penalty is severe, and ought to be enforced. The practice is barbarous, wanton and useless, and will soon exterminate all the birds on the marshes, which now make fine healthful sport there. The other day, as we learn, about four bushels of redbreasts and yellow legs were sent to this city, all of which had been murdered in this horrid manner. If Robbins buys them in the market he ought to be fined for it. — The receiver is as bad as the thief. The bird dealers should all refuse to buy a bird whose neck has been wrung and no shot in him. Otherwise they will soon have no birds to sell, as well as those who love the marsh shooting, no birds to kill. Four bushels at one scoop destroys more birds than the gunners would kill in a whole season. The good people of the Cape are deeply interested in enforcing the law against thus murdering the birds, because the sport calls to their healthful and pleasant villages many strangers who have not a little money behind them, of which almost every man gets a share in one shape or another.

Whenever a matter of national importance is on the tapis, it never escapes the keen martial eyes of the Berry Street Rangers. Accordingly, at the meeting of that gallant corps on Monday, the Judge Advocate and Corporal Hunt were detailed for the purpose of marching to the Old Colony, this week, to reconnoitre the position of the tiger, in the Sandwich woods. Should it be necessary, the Berry Street Rangers, it is expected, will be ordered out to relieve the good people of Cape Cod of the devastations of the tiger, a feat that will be second in history only to the extermination of the great dragon of Egypt, by St. George, one of the seven Champions. In the mean time, while reconnoitering the tiger, we shall look after this massacre of plover.

En passant, the shooting is said to be fine on the marshes, and if our friends want the material for execution, they will find them as usual at Lane and Herd's in Duck Square.

September 5, 1837. Washington Daily National Intelligencer 25(7664): 2.

The marsh plover corresponds with the proper name of American Woodcock. Orleans is in Barnstable County, in the Cape Cod region.

A Flight of Birds in the Night

One of the phenomena which has been noticed in connection with the cold and stormy weather of the past four weeks, says the Worcester spy, is the scarcity of some species of birds which usually make their appearance in numbers throughout the country from the 1st to 15th of this month. Although in the milder weather of the last month the early birds came thick and fast, passing on their way to the north, the tide of migration has apparently been stayed by the unfavorable weather, which has retarded as well the growth of vegetation in some ways. Many of our birds which may be seen here regularly in numbers on certain dates every season, have not appeared at all or but few have been seen. It is well known that flights of birds occur quite regularly in autumn before the storms, and in spring after them. It is also known that many birds in their migrations travel during the night, resting usually during the day. We were prepared on the rise of the mercury Saturday evening to note a flight of birds during the night and were not disappointed. The early hours of the evening passed without much having been heard of the birds, except now and then the chirp of a warbler of the noise of a small flock passing overhead. At 11 o'clock, however, bird calls began to resound high in the air and on all sides, and from 12 to 2 in the morning the multitudes of birds were heard passing overhead; some low, some so high that their notes came back like a faint echo in the darkness. Occasionally a flock of warblers or sparrows would pass, flying so low that the rustling of their wings could be heard. Now and then a flock of some small song birds passed high overhead, making a continuous musical ripple through the night. From the regions of the upper air, high above all, came back the tones of the plover and other shore birds, all tending toward the north. The notes of many such as the bobolink, tanager, Wilson's thrush, white-crowned sparrow, etc., were recognized, and during a walk Sunday morning these birds and many others were found in numbers. Those who wish to observe the small land birds now on their way to the north should be on alert, for in ten days from this time very few birds will be found here except our summer residents. This flight of birds, which is probably not local, may extend over the entire portion of the northern United States east of the Mississippi, or even further. Countless millions of birds are spreading through these states, returning from their wanderings in southern forests to their old homes in the north.

October 5, 1882. St. Paul Daily Globe 5(278): 6. The report is however, obviously about spring migration.

Great Flock of Pigeons - Jersey Shore

Several large flocks of pigeons have been noticed of late. Capt. Bricker, of Jersey Shore, who was in the city yesterday, related that on Friday a flock passed over that town which reached from mountain to mountain, and attracted the attention of everybody. Old hunters declared that they had never seen anything like it. But the most remarkable part remains to be told. The Captain was out with his gun, like many others, and noticing the myriads of birds, fired into the center of them. The caused the flock to double up like a great knot, and arrested the flight for a moment. But one solitary bird was brought down, to the intense disgust of the marksman. When they got in motion again the sound declared by their wings resembled the roar of distant thunder. There was "millions in" that flock, and it sailed away in the direction of Williamsport.

April 6, 1875. Williamsport Daily Gazette and Bulletin 6(114): 4.

Stupefied Wild Pigeon Trapping in Essex County

"In the county of Essex large numbers are annually captured. The value of pigeons taken here yearly is estimated at $20,000. In the town of Boxford it is reckoned that three thousand dozen are taken every season; and in Andover, Methuen, Tewksbury, and other towns in that section, still larger numbers are trapped. Cartis, the well-known hunter and trapper of Boxford, takes about 700 annually, and has been known to capture over 100 dozen in a single day. The general market value is about one dollar per dozen, and hence the estimate that $20,000 are taken in Essex county annually supposes that 20,000 dozen, or nearly 250,000 pigeons are captured per year.

"The pigeons, in this vicinity are attracted to particular parts of the woods by the strewing of grain in open spaces cleared of brushwood for the purpose. In this way they are not only tolled around the spot where traps are to be set and familiarized with the ground, but are well fattened before being taken. They are fed for some time before the spreading of the nets. When a sufficient number have congregated to make it worth while to entrap them, their grain is saturated with whiskey, which steals away their silly brains, as it does silly men's brains, and they become willing stupefied victims of the trapper. The net is set in such a way that by the use of young saplings for drawing-springs, it is made to jump over the dense flock of fuddled pigeons gathered in front of it, and when they attempt to rise they are entangled in the meshes. The pigeons, we are told, when enticed by the grain and whiskey will huddle together in a compact mass, as if for the special convenience and gratification of the trapper. When once caught in the net they thrust their head through the meshes, and the trapper, by a certain pressure upon the neck, kills them one after another, with great rapidity, and with more dexterity of touch than tenderness of feeling. They are then taken out, picked, and packed for the market."

This report is from 1859; and from Essex County, Massachusetts.

Emmons' Appearance Calendar of Early-1830s a First for Bird Phenology

An article extended along a bit more than half-a-page in a journal of 1834 is presented some dates when the first dates for bluebirds in the spring. A doctor about Williamston, noted when there were the first robins. The notes are some of the first to present a comparative dates for spring arrivals of other birds in the neighborhood. of arrival for spring birds. Based on the particulars, it is a premier notable in the history of bird phenology.

Dr. Ebenezer Emmons listed his findings from Williamston, Massachusetts, according to their scientific name of the era - and most importantly, carefully noting arrival dates for 1831-1833 on his scene. The observations were made while he was not practicing medicine, or giving attention to the duties of married life, with Maria his spouse since 1818. The doctor was 32 in 1831.

On his list were the following 23 species, shown in the sequence as originally presented in the American Journal of Science and Arts:

March

Eastern Bluebird; noted as the earliest arrival

American Robin; arrived just after the bluebird

Eastern Meadowlark

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Common Nighthawk

Eastern Phoebe

Red-winged Blackbird

Cedar Waxwing

Passenger Pigeon

April

American Woodcock

Northern Flicker

Veery

Killdeer

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

May

Eastern Kingbird

Chimney Swift

Ovenbird

Gray Catbird

American Goldfinch

Scarlet Tanager

Bobolink

Baltimore Oriole

This article was simply a basic list of occurence, but more importantly, a comparison of when the species arrived during the spring months for three different years. It had no particular significance in bird phenology at the time, but is now apparent as an article that well represents the presentation of phenology details for spring birds.

Time is of particular significance as it conveys a chronology of arrival or occurrence, and the doctor's article of less than 40 lines, is an original source for arrival dates that so obviously convey a phenology for the noted species.

The accomplished Dr. Emmons - elected Professor of Natural History at Williams College (his collegiate alma mater) in 1833 - when he also had published his manuscript of the birds known to have occurred in Massachusetts. It was the first, formal list of species for the state, correctly denoting 160 species as published in an official state government report.

The list was carefully written in a "small and cramped hand" in ink, according to the original manuscript used by Edward Hitchcock for publication purposes. It was subsequently sent to the celebrated John James Audubon, care of Dr. George Parkman, at Boston. The doctor was obviously meticulous in its preparation.

"Sir. - I have done the best I can with the Catalogue. It is much more satisfactory to myself in the 1st Sub-Class. In the 2d I have been obligated to obtain my information mostly in Museums, &c. But in general it is, I think, accurate. I might have added a few more species, but I choose rather to omit some than commit the opposite error. You see my form and arrangement, it is, of course, at your disposal to alter as you see fit to make it conform to your general plan. The systematic form I should certainly prefer to an alphabetic one. My observations you are at liberty to suppress. Errors you will, of course, be good enough to rectify &c. The English names I would print in italic."

There are other significant notables in the academic career of Emmons.

In 1837, while undertaking geologic studies, he ascended Mount Marcy in a mountain range in New York, and thereafter applied the Adirondack Mountains moniker that is still being used for the region in New York. Mount Emmons was named in his recognition. He wrote several "classic texts," including:

• Manual of Mineralogy and Geology;
• Natural History of New York;
• A Treatise Upon American Geology;
• The Swampland of North Carolina; and
• Manual of Geology.

In 1857, the scientist was the first to name a fossil bird, based on "fragmentary bones from North Carolina" and this was the first known notation in the field of study which did not really originate until 1870, with the descriptions of some species by Othniel Charles Marsh, according to a later article by Alexander Wetmore.

Dr. Emmons was born in May 1799 at Middlefield Massachusetts ... the son of a farmer also named Ebenezer, and his mother, Mary. As a youth, he apparently had an obvious interest in nature, with bugs and butterflies adorning his room, according to historic accounts. The doctor passed in 1683, after an obviously accomplished and memorable life-span.

Periodical Phenomena

Though bird chronology was an obvious aspect of noting birds and their occurrence during the Emmons' period and subsequent decades, it was not given any notably particular attention for nearly two decades after the list from Williamston was published.

In 1851, the Smithsonian Institution issued a circular as they were "desirous of obtaining information with regard to the periodical phenomena of Animal and Vegetable life in North America," according to a note in the "Miscellaneous Intelligence" section of the journal of The American Journal of Science and Arts, issued in November 1851. An extensive list of plants to be "particularly observed" was given, but only five species of birds were particularly noted as deserving attention for when they arrived, and "if possible, time of depositing eggs."

A revised list for 1855 - also conveyed by the Smithsonian in one of their annual reports - listed 16 species in a tabular format where the details could be readily used to fill in the blanks, asking for particular details on when the species arrived in the spring, the commencement of nesting and incubation, when young appeared and the departure of the species in autumn.

1851: First appearance of the following animals

1855: Birds

Pandion carolinus, Fish hawk Hirundo purpurea, Martin Turdus migratorius, Robin Sialis Wilsonii, Blue bird Agelaius phoeniceus, Red wing black bird, and any other species of birds

Acanthylis pelasgia - Chimney bird Agelaius phoeniceus - Red-winged blackbird Anser canadensis - Wild goose Hirundo purpuera - Martin Hirundo rufa - Barn swallow Pandion carolinus - Fish-hawk Quiscalus ferrugineus - Rusty blackbird Quiscalus versicolor - Crow blackbird Sialia wilsonii - Blue bird Turdus migratorius - Robin Tyrannula fusca - Pewee Dolichonyx oryzivora - Reed-bird, rice-bird, bobolink Mimus felivox - Cat-bird Tyrannus intrepidus - Ring-bird Trogolodytes aedon - House wren Antrostomus vociferous - Whipporwill

These two articles are also part of the first history for the realm of bird phenology, with the scientists at the government museum originating a request for details on particular events. There have not been any printed accounts found which present results which may have been submitted as a result of these requests.

Further efforts to devise bird migration times has been previously indicated for the mid 1870s, in articles published in Forest and Stream.