CHANGES IN THE NUMBERS OF BIRDS 119 



The cause of this shameful extermination is well 

 known. It was the capture of birds for sale in the 

 market as food. It was the general custom during 

 the migration season, when these enormous flocks 

 appeared, for people to turn out and kill pigeons. 

 Some hunters made it a business to follow them 

 from place to place to secure them for market. In 

 the days of their abundance they nested in large 

 colonies in areas forty miles long and three or four 

 miles wide. Great numbers of men, women, and 

 children, armed with guns, clubs, and nets, came to 

 these nesting-places and massacred both old and 

 young birds during the entire night. The young in 

 the nest were considered great delicacies. The birds 

 were so numerous that they were easily killed in 

 enormous numbers. Sometimes a single shot would 

 kill dozens of birds. 



They were also caught in nets and several hun- 

 dred were so caught at one time. Sometimes a single 

 hunter killed as many as a thousand pigeons in a 

 day. They were hunted both day and night and 

 were sent to market, where they were sold for 

 twelve to fifty cents a dozen. In 1874, from a nest- 

 ing-place in Michigan, one hundred barrels were 

 shipped daily for thirty days, or about a million 

 and a half birds. In another year about fourteen 

 million birds were sent to market. In 1881, in an- 

 other part of the same State, five hundred men were 

 netting pigeons and took about ten million birds. 



