124 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



The passenger pigeon was the most rapid and 

 graceful in flight of any of our wild birds. Its won- 

 derful endurance and rapidity of flight are shown by 

 the fact that it has been killed in Canada with Caro- 

 lina rice still in its craw, having covered this distance 

 in a few hours by continuous flight. 



In their migrations some of the birds flew very 

 high in the air — often almost beyond the vision, while 

 others flew so low that they were reached by the gun- 

 ner's pellets fired from the old-fashioned flintlock 

 guns. The noise made by their wings could be heard 

 for a long distance. The low fliers were the ones that 

 met with disaster in attempting to pass through the 

 enemy's country — the settlements along the route of 

 passage. 



The usual methods of capturing the birds were by 

 shooting and by netting, although I have known them 

 to be killed in great numbers with clubs, and even 

 caught alive with the hands at their roosting places in 

 the low brush where they were hunted with lanterns 

 and torches. I have seen the little creatures taken with 

 the net; and while I had no hand in the sport (or 

 crime), being only & spectator, yet I felt somewhat 

 guilty as an accessory before and after the fact. 



The pigeon-net covered probably two or three hun- 

 dred square feet of ground when spread. It was 

 usually set in an open field on as high ground ^s pos- 

 sible, that the flying birds might readily observe the 

 decoys. To set the net, one edge or border was fast- 

 ened to the ground by stakes driven down, and the one 



