THE GREAT MASSACRE 99 



''The Passenger Pigeons were butchered, mas- 

 sacred by millions. The fact that they roosted and 

 nested in densely packed colonies, unhappily sim- 

 plified matters for the destroyers. There were 

 colonies which completely filled forests forty miles 

 long and three to four miles wide, few trees hav- 

 ing less than a dozen nests and the larger trees 

 averaging from fifty to a hundred. Each nest con- 

 tained one or two fat squabs. 



'* 'When the S(]uab harvest was ripe,' says 

 Baynes, describing the scene, 'vast armies of men, 

 women and children came from all over the sur- 

 rounding country to gather the crop. Some of 

 the folk came in tents, that they might camp on 

 the scene and kill Pigeons as long as there were 

 any to kill, while others came with sacks, baskets 

 and barrels, in which to collect the spoils, and 

 horses and wagons with which to remove them. 



" 'Then began a fearful massacre, in which no 

 one thought of anything save how he could secure 

 the greatest number of Pigeons in the shortest pos- 

 sible space of time. Some used guns, others clubs 

 or long poles with which to beat down the frantic 

 victims, and still others suffocated the birds with 

 pots of burning suli)hur. The fat s(iuabs in the 

 nests were considered even more desirable prizes 



