42 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



baited the birds with grain. Dozens of birds 

 sometimes were killed thus at a single shot. In 

 one case seventy-one birds were killed by two 

 shots. A single shot from the old flint-lock, 

 single-barreled gun, fired into a tree, sometimes 

 would procure a back load of Pigeons. 



The Pigeons were reduced greatly in numbers 

 on the whole Atlantic seaboard during the tirst 

 two centuries after the settlement of the country, 

 but in the West their numbers remained appar- 

 ently the same until the nineteenth century. 

 There was no appreciable decrease there during 

 the first half of that century ; but during the 

 latter half, railroads were pushed across the 

 plains to the Pacific, settlers increased rapidly to 

 the Mississippi and beyond, and the diminution 

 of the Pigeons in the West began. Already it had 

 become noticeable in western Pennsylvania, 

 western New York, along the Appalachian 

 motmtain chain and in Ohio. This was due in 

 part to the destruction of the forests, particularly 

 the beech woods, which once covered vast tracts, 

 and which furnished the birds with a chief supply 

 of food. Later, the primeval pine and hemlock 

 forests of the northern States largely were cut 

 away. This deprived the birds of another source 

 of food — the seed of these trees. The destruc- 

 tion of the forests, however, was not complete ; 

 for, although great tracts of land were cleared, 

 there remained and still remain vast regions 

 more or less covered by coppice growth sufficient 

 to furnish great armies of Pigeons with food, 

 and the cultivation of the land and the raising of 

 grain provided new sources of food supply. 

 Therefore, while the reduction of the forest area 

 in the East was a large factor in the diminution 

 of the Pigeons, we cannot attribute their exter- 

 mination to the destruction of the forest. Forest 

 fires undoubtedly had something to do with 

 reducing the numbers of these birds, for many 

 were destroyed by these fires, and in some cases 

 large areas of forest were ruined absolutely by 

 fire, thus for many years depriving the birds of 

 a portion of their food supply. Nevertheless, 

 the fires were local and restricted, and had com- 

 paratively little efTect on the vast numbers of the 

 species. 



The net, though used by fowlers almost every- 

 where in the East from the earliest settlement 

 of the country, was not a great factor in the ex- 

 termination of the Pigeons in the Mississippi 

 valley States until the latter half of the nine- 

 teenth century. With the extension of railroads 

 and telegraph lines through the States, the occu- 

 pation of the netter became more stable than 

 before, for he could follow the birds wherever 



they went. The number of men who made net- 

 ting an occupation after the year i860 is vari- 

 ously estimated at from 400 to 1000. Whenever 

 a flight of Pigeons left one nesting place and 

 made toward another, the netters learned their 

 whereabouts by telegraph, packed up their be- 

 longings, and moved to the new location, some- 

 times following the birds a thousand miles at 

 one move. Some of them not only made a liv- 

 ing, but earned a competency, by netting Pigeons 

 during part of the year and shooting wild-fowl 

 and game birds during the remainder of the 

 season. In addition to these there were the local 

 netters, who plied the trade only when the 

 Pigeons came their way. 



Possibly the last great slaughter of Pigeons in 

 New York, of which we have record, was some 

 time in the 70's. A flock had nested in Missouri 

 in April, where most of the squabs were killed 

 by the pigeoners. This flock then went to Michi- 

 gan, where they were followed by the same 

 pigeoners, who again destroyed the squabs. The 

 Pigeons then flew to New York State, and nested 

 near the upper Beaverkill in the Catskills, in the 

 lower part of Ulster County. It is said that tons 

 of the birds were sent to the New York market 

 from this nesting place, and that not less than 

 fifteen tons of ice were used in packing the 

 squabs. 



During the 70's most of the Pigeons concen- 

 trated in the West. They often passed the 

 winter in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, the Indian 

 Territory and contiguous regions, and the sum- 

 mer in Micliigan and adjacent States and in the 

 Canadian northwest. At this time some very 

 large nets were used, grain beds were made, and 

 the birds were allowed to come and feed there 

 until from 200 to 250 dozen were taken some- 

 times at one haul. 



Still, people read of the " mysterious " disap- 

 pearance of the Passenger Pigeon, wonder what 

 caused it, and say that it never has been satis- 

 factorily explained. The New York market 

 alone would take 100 barrels a day for weeks, 

 without a break in price. Chicago, St. Louis, 

 Boston and all the great and little cities of the 

 North and East joined in the demand. Need 

 we wonder why the Pigeons have vanished? 



The birds that survived the slaughter at Pe- 

 toskey in 1878 finally left the nesting place in 

 large bodies and disappeared to the North, and 

 from that time onward the diminution of the 

 Pigeons was continuous. Some of the netters 

 asserted that this great flight was swallowed up in 

 Lake Michigan, and that the Pigeons then became 

 practically extinct. Tliis statement had no foun- 



