76 The Passenger Pigeon 



which are bent so that they do not quite meet. Great 

 care must be taken not to shed blood on the bed, for 

 the pigeons notice this at once and are much alarmed 

 by it. Young birds can be netted in wheat stubble 

 in the autumn, but this is seldom attempted. When 

 just able to fly, however, they are caught in enormous 

 numbers near the "nestings" in pens made of slats. A 

 few dozen old pigeons are confined in the pens as decoys, 

 and a net is thrown over the mouth of the pen when a 

 sufficient number of young birds have entered it. 



Mr. Stevens has known over four hundred dozen 

 young pigeons to be taken at once by this method. The 

 first birds sent to market yield the netter about one 

 dollar a dozen. At the height of the season the price 

 sometimes falls as low as twelve cents a dozen. It 

 averages about twenty-five cents. 



