Greene County - Immense Pigeon Roost on James Creek

An extensive pigeon roost exists on James creek, about twelve miles south-east of Springfield. The Patriot says the slaughter of the innocents goes on fearfully there every night. Men go out in Democrat wagons, carrying implements, and come back sober, with sacks of pigeons — bags of pigeons. We have pigeon pies for dinner, broiled pigeons for breakfast, and warmed over for supper. The market price is 25 cents per dozen., with a downward tendency. Barrels, bales, and tons of pigeons are shipped daily for St. Louis. Men have forgotten politics; bolters, for the time being, have respite and nepenthe, and people talk, think and feel only for pigeons.

November 3, 1870. Neighborhood news. Greene county. Bolivar Free Press 3(23): 3.

Great Flight of Wild Pigeons in New Hampshire

The greatest flight of wild pigeons that has been known in the memory of the oldest inhabitants is occurring in New Hampshire. Forty-three flocks were counted passing over Portsmouth in one hour. One person in Elliot killed sixty at one shot, several others have killed in one day from one hundred to two hundred each.

November 3, 1870. [Great flight of wild pigeons in New Hampshire.] Holmes County Republican 21(11): 2. Also: October 19, 1870 in Lima Weekly Gazette.

Miscellaneous Reading - A Georgia Pigeon Roost

The Whole Sky Darkened for Miles With a Pigeon Tornado.

A letter from Clarksville, Georgia to the Germantown Telegraph contains the following graphic account of a Georgia pigeon roosts, which it would, seem eclipsed the Kentucky roost:

This roost occurred in the month of February; the place selected by the pigeons was on the banks of the Chattooga river, near the confluence with the Tugalo, on the eastern line of this county, where the mountains rise abruptly on either side; a wilder and more inaccessible a place could not have been found in the United States. Our party consisted of four persons, all armed with good double-barreled guns and mounted on horseback. We started about three o'clock p.m. for the roost. After fording the Tugalo we skirted along the breakneck sides of the mountain until we came within a half mile or so of the beginning of the roost, which extended over an area of some five miles or more. Here we were obliged to leave our horses and take the rest of the trip on foot. The sun was now about half an hour high, and the pigeons had just begun to come in. As we were high up on the side of the mountains on the west side of the river, our position was an excellent one to see the innumerable flocks as they poured over the mountain tops into the valley. As we did not wish to enter the roost until after sunset, we remained an hour or so viewing the immense host of birds which no man could number; from east to west, north and south they came in flocks of all sizes, roaring and rushing through the air, whirling and sweeping in every direction.

It being our intention to go near the centre of the roost and spend the night there at a camp prepared by an old hunter of the neighborhood, we started as it begun to grow a little dusk, leaving our horses securely tied to saplings. As our camp was on the east side of the Chattonga we forded it on foot, and soon entered the edge of the roost, where there were myriads of pigeons and myriads still coming from every direction. As we were bound for the camp which was still a mile distant, the difficulty was how to get along, as the numbers on the trees were so great that there was a constant crash of the limbs breaking from the trees, making it hazardous to skulls and limbs to pass under them. To move the pigeons out of the path we had to resort to firing volleys among them which had the effect to move them so that we could pass along with safety. — An amusing incident or accident occurred to one of our party who was walking by the side of the writer; his name was George Gable; he had a pretty large talkative mouth usually more or less open, and as it was now early dark and the pigeons flying in every direction from the breaking of the timber, one came like a bullet directly into George's mouth, and killed itself outright!

After reaching camp and resting awhile, we divided into two parties and began shooting, and all we had to do was select trees which were filled with birds and fire into the midst of them as near as we could : it being dark no precise aim could be taken, but looking up we could distinguish the dark tree tops sufficiently well to get an aim. On firing at a mass of them they would fly a short distance and settle again, but as there were plenty of trees filled with them, we did not have to run many steps to get another shot. After every shot we could hear the birds fall amongst the universal din, some on the ground and some in the river. We kept firing at intervals until midnight, when we gave up and returned into camp to await for daylight to pick up the game.

Shortly after daylight, on going over the ground where they had roosted, it had the appearance of having been visited by a tornado; numbers of trees with trunks a foot or more in diameter, which grew in a leaning position from the side of the mountain, were broken off near the ground, while thousands of limbs of all sizes were split from the trees. The great noise and confusion continued until three o'clock in the morning when all became hushed and silent as death, save now and then the howl of the wolf, the bark of the fox and the scream of the wildcat, which hold high carnival on the occasion. — Shortly after daylight in the morning the flocks commenced reforming, and started off on their morning foraging expeditions, which extend to a hundred miles or more in every direction, to return in like manner as before. This roost was continued about two weeks, when they moved off to the north. — Near its close it was almost impossible to enter upon the ground they had occupied in consequence of the manure which not only covered the ground but every stick and bush. On going over the ground in the morning to collect the birds we had shot during the night, we found many that were killed and maimed by the falling timber. How many we had killed could not be ascertained, as numbers fell into the river and were carried down the stream. We brought out, however, 535 birds, which were as many as we could comfortably carry. While searching about in a laurel thicket for the dead birds, we came across a pile of a peck or more of gizzards, which had been left there by some 'varmint,' probably a wildcat, which did not appear to relish them as food."

March 29, 1871. Juniata Sentinel 25(13): 1. Issued at Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pennsylvania.

Sportsmens Harvest - Professional Pigeon Catchers at Wisconsin Roost

Scores of our sportsmen are having rare fun, bringing down pigeons, a few miles east of town, where a pigeon roost is in full blast. Several professional "pigeon catchers" from other States are on the ground, with all of the appliances for entrapping the unsuspecting birds. Several barrels have already been shipped to eastern markets.

April 21, 1871. Sportsmen's harvest. Sparta Eagle 10(39): 3.

Pigeons Spoiling Crop Fields in Wisconsin

The Wood County (Wis.) Reporter says: "Farmers are complaining bitterly of the damage done by the millions of pigeons which have made headquarters at or near Friendship, and make marauding expeditions every morning with the regularity and certainty of a Sherman bummer. Fields of wheat are being completely spoiled, and all grain sowed is as good as lost to the husbandman. — Hundreds of flocks may be seen every morning flying to the northwest to feed on the acorns of the oak forests in the western portion of the county, and returning with the approach of night."

The Waupaca County (Wis.) Republican says that the pigeons are spoiling the wheat fields. They dig up wheat by the acre.

May 24, 1871. The pigeons. Madison Observer 50(2571): 2.

Great Pigeon Roost at Kilbourn City in Wisconsin

The great pigeon roost at the West this year is in Wisconsin. A paper at Kilbourn city says that for three weeks pigeons have been flying in flocks which no man could number. On Saturday, April 22d, for above two hours before nightfall, they flew in one continuous flock from south to north, darkening the air and astonishing the people by the sound of their wings. — Hotels are full of trappers and hunters, coopers are busy making barrels, and men, women and children are active in packing the birds or filling the barrels. They are shipped to Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. From 10,000 to 30,000 birds are forwarded daily.

May 30, 1871. [Great pigeon roost at Kilbourn City, Wisconsin.] St. Lawrence Republican and Ogdensburg Weekly Journal 41(28): 2. Abbreviated version on June 1, 1871 in Edgefield Advertiser 32(23): 2.

Enormous Pigeon Roost in Wisconsin Woods

Correspondence of the N.Y. Evening Post.

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 a heavy draft on public credulity. We have now, however, authentic information from a gentleman of the highest reputation, who passed last week in the section of Wisconsin we are about to describe, of a "roost" as enormous in extent that it throws all the older accounts into the shade.

Commencing near Kilbourne City, the breeding 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 a variety of species. It is a sandy district, embracing perhaps the poorest soil in the State, and apparently destitute of food for even moderate flocks of birds. Yet almost continually, 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 one hundred were counted, when the job had to be given up as impracticable.

Our informant, Cl. Henry Herndow, gives some curious details of his experience on this breeding ground, and of the habits of the pigeons when aggregated in such multitudes. The nesting place is not, as would naturally be supposed, selected for any abundance of food, for the pigeon can readily pass in an hour from fifty to a hundred miles, so that the range is really across the entire State, and the multitude is no innumerable that they have carried wide-spread destruction among the grain fields. The male attends the young during the middle of the day, the female returning toward evening to take charge. Only one egg was anywhere found in a nest. The incubation lasts about two weeks, and the young in a short time after are ruthlessly thrust out to take care of themselves, and develop so rapidly that few days suffice to give them full maturity.

Probably the sex changes alternately with each brood, as the process of hatching goes on continuously. Millions of the young perish, but it makes no appreciable difference in the number. The woods are alive with wolves, foxes and all the species of native carnivores, who feed to repletion without making any sensible reduction of 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 winter's 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. Innumerable flocks get benighted while off feeding, and, as they return, the roar of their wings through the forest is overwhelming. They pile upon each other literally in heaps, breaking the overburdened brambles, and precipitating multitudes from their perches upon the ground. The wild wings and the chatterings that fill the air as late as midnight, is truly appalling, while the odor arising from the countless dead and the droppings produce a stench almost intolerable.

The "flock," 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 generally takes place by way of Michigan. They probably actually make a great circuit, like the buffalo, 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 sent to market are caught at points far distant from the herding grounds, so that the real locality is not generally known.

June 7, 1871. An enormous pigeon roost. A sight worth seeing in the Wisconsin Woods. Nashville Union and American 860: 3.