106 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



Historical Comment — Last Appearance of Pigeons 



In the fields near the nesting grounds the netters 

 waited for outgoing and incoming flocks. 



Early in the morning, when the pigeons were 

 hungry, was thought to be the most favorable time to 

 lure them to the nets. It might happen, however, that 

 clouds would prolong the twilight, or a dense fog shut 

 out from the ground the rays of the rising sun, ren- 

 dering it difficult for the birds, in their flight, to dis- 

 cern objects near the earth; when this was the case 

 the pigeons flew high. An attempt to attract their 

 attention would be useless. 



The return flight, however, was usually made to- 

 wards evening, in broad daylight, but, if the birds had 

 been successful in filling their crops, the attempt to 

 call them down would be unavailing. As the country 

 for a long distance in every direction had become di- 

 vested of food, the birds would frequently return to 

 their nesting place with very little in their crops. Then 

 the sight of a flyer, or a stool pigeon, fluttering just 

 above the ground, as if alighting for the purpose of 

 picking up some sort of gTain or nuts, they would 

 swoop down, huddled together in almost a solid mass, 

 and the netter would make a big haul. 



The depletion of the great flack, by netters and gun- 

 ners was by no means restricted to the nesting ground 

 and its vicinity. Over a va^l extent of country em- 

 bracing thousands of square miles — wherever the pi- 

 geons were coming and going nearly every day — their 



