Lest somebody may think, from the
title of this story, that an Annanias
tale is in the making, we shall draw a
parallel from Compton’s Pictured En¬
cyclopedia about pigeons, page 215, of
Volume 1 1-P. Here is an amazing state¬
ment:
"Two billion pigeons in one flock is
a big bird story but nevertheless a
true one. Less than a century ago such
a sight was common throughout North
America; for the wild passenger pigeon
(or wood pigeon) was often seen in
flocks 200 miles long, and it was found
nesting in such enormous numbers that
over a 1 50.000-acrc tract of forest, 50
to 100 nests could be counted in a
single tree. It is said that the noise of
these flocks could be heard for a dis¬
tance of three miles, and that thick
branches often broke with the weight
of the roosting birds."
An Eye-witness Story
Reads almost like a story from the
pen of Baron Munchausen, doesn’t it?
But one of these two-billion-pigcon
flocks was seen in North Carolina dur¬
ing the early years of the nineteenth
century, if reports can be believed. At
least one eye-witness of this amazing
sight was contacted by a writer. He
told W. C. Allen a most wonderful
talc about the migration of a 200-milc-
long flock of pigeons as it was starting
out from a resting place for a flight
further north. It occurred in Halifax
County near the banks of the Roanoke
River about the year 1830.
William Aaron, Allen’s uncle, gave
some details of this marvelous flight
during the ’nineties when he was about
85 years old. He was a hunter of the
Daniel Boone type, except his hobby
was deer instead of bear. In one sea¬
son, according to his record, he bagged
60 deer.
It was in 1830. he said, when he
saw the immense flock of wild passen¬
ger pigeons flying so close together that
the sun at midday was darkened and
a weird shadow enveloped the earth.
The birds were flying in tiers of several
birds deep and in a gang hundreds
of yards wide. So close were they to
the ground that men went about with
long fishing poles and knocked them
down. People had pigeons for break¬
fast for the three days the flock was
passing over. The flesh of a fat pigeon
was delicious, it was said.
One day, the old hunter said, thou¬
sands of the flock alighted late in the
afternoon in the trees of a forest
nearby to spend the night. The next
morning the ground under the trees was
covered with dead birds. He described
the pigeons. They were about seven¬
teen inches long from the tip of the
bill to the tail; of a bluish gray color
on the back and a dim reddish color
on the breast. The wings and tail were
long and pointed. On account of the
reddish under color the bird was often
spoken of as the red-breasted pigeon.
They fed upon fruits, seeds, grain,
and nuts. When they alighted for feed¬
ing. the fields were stripped in a few
minutes of everything they could cat.
A Three-day Pilgrimage
After spending the night, the flock,
as though with a perfect understand¬
ing. took flight and was soon out of
sight, but another one was coming into
view. It took about three days for the
two-billion-pigeon flock to pass a given
place, flying only between the rising
and the setting of the sun. It was fun,
the old hunter said, to beat them down
with fishing poles, and then enjoy the
Pigeons Over Carolina
It happened back in 1830, when a tre¬
mendous number of passenger pigeons
passed over North Carolina on one of their
migratory flights. Today there isn’t a
single one in the world.
THE STATE, AUGUST 19. 1961
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