PIGEONS DROP DEAD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 645, 2 March 1923, Page 6

PIGEONS DROP DEAD.

MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED. There was quite a tragedy enacted in the vicinity of the general post office at Wellington yesterday evening, and as the city offices discharged their staffs at dive o’clock they were horrified to see large numbers of pigeons circling overhead and dropping dead on to the pavement (says the New Zealand Times). Over forty of them fell within as many seconds, and a huge crowd quickly assembled to witness this unusual occurrence. The ground was literally covered with the bodies of the unfortunate birds, and electrocution seomed to be the only possible explanation of the tragic happening. A number of the birds were observed to be huddled up on the ledges facing the post office, obviously distressed, and anon one would wheel up into the air, pause in its flight, and drop to earth with a thud, stone dead. A number of passers-by were struck by the falling birds, and as it could then be seen that the birds did not come into contact with any live wire, the use l of poison was suggested as’the solution. Quite a number of the birds were racing birds, and were rung. An examination ghowed that all the birds had recently eaten a considerable quantity of wheat, for all their crops were full, and there seems little doubt that poison was used.