20 THE PASSENG-ER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



man with his gun, his axe to fell the trees, and his 

 nets to ensnare the parent birds. 



The primitive inhabitants of our country, the In- 

 dians, no doubt, welcomed these pigeons, when they re- 

 turned in spring, and regaled themselves upon the fat 

 squabs for a few days; but they were unsuited for 

 their steady diet and the Redmen soon tired of them. 

 They would be unable to kill many of the adult birds 

 with their primitive weapons. They respected the 

 nesting ground and spent much time in slaying the 

 enemies of the birds that gathered in great numbers 

 to gorge themselves upon the young birds, as they flut- 

 tered to the ground, when learning to fly. 



Then the White men came, with no legends of grati- 

 tude for a benevolent incarnation; no sacred regard 

 for the feathers, to wear as head-dress, ornament or 

 talisman to avoid the mysterious confusion on the way 

 to the hereafter, that bare heads should suffer, among 

 the shades of departed. Their legs were not bare in 

 honor of the sacred bird that had endowed Redmen 

 with incarnation, yielding bodies for the children, as 

 fast as they were needed, in their old piety. Fire- 

 arms, snares and great netting traps were used to get 

 the parent birds. With axes they cut down the trees 

 and took the squabs by tons, and tons. 



There are camp-fire stories, galore, of the carnivals 

 of the slaughter and the orgies of the feasts, when the 

 day's work was finished, that are better buried in the 

 oblivion of silence, as we draw the veil over the crime 

 of extermination that befell God's own messenger to 



