458 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



Mr. H. T. Phillips of Detroit states that he used to see 

 and kill Pigeons every spring, "up to ten years ago," from the 

 middle of March to the middle of April, on the Mississippi 

 bayous. This must have been in the latter years of the nine- 

 teenth century, at the time when the Pigeons were on the 

 verge of extinction. 



A flock was seen in Illinois in 1895, from which two speci- 

 mens were taken. At that time the netting of the birds had 

 been practically given up, and most of the dealers had seen no 

 Pigeons for two seasons. It finally ceased, on account of the 

 virtual extinction of the birds. How many barrels of Pigeons 

 were shipped to the markets during these final years .'^ At 

 least one shipment of several barrels was condemned in New 

 York City as late as November, 1892 (J. H. Fleming: Ottawa 

 Naturalist, 1907, Vol. XX, p. 236), and several hundred dozens 

 came into the Boston market in December, 1892, and in 

 January, 1893. I saw some Pigeons in barrels there in 1892 

 or 1893, which probably were some of the lot recorded by 

 Brewster and noted by Fleming, who records the New York 

 shipment. All of these were from the Indian Territory. 



Messrs. W. W. Judy & Co., marketmen of St. Louis, wrote 

 Mr. Ruthven Deane, in 1895, that the last Pigeons which 

 they received came from Siloam Springs, Ark., in 1893; they 

 had lost all track of the Pigeons since that time, and their 

 netters were lying idle. 



The above paragraph epitomizes the history of Pigeon 

 destruction. Judy & Co. were perhaps the largest dealers in 

 Pigeons in the United States. The story of where their net- 

 ters worked after 1878, how many birds they took and what 

 markets they supplied, would explain only too well the so- 

 called " mystery " of the disappearance of the Passenger 

 Pigeon. It is evident from the foregoing that, although the 

 business of Pigeon netting was reduced much after 1878, 

 there were still some who followed it for at least fifteen years 

 thereafter. They pursued the birds as long as they could 

 find a flock so large that they could make a " killing." 



I have tried to get some information regarding the netting 

 of Pigeons by Judy & Co. Mr. Otto Widmann of St. Louis, 



