126 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



seen pigeon houses containing many of these birds in 

 confinement for use when the season came. 



The cruelty of this method of procuring game birds 

 was partly in the treatment of the stool-pigeon; the 

 poor bird's eyes being sewed shut to cause it to hover 

 more readily. Why there was not some more humane 

 method of blindfolding the bird seems strange at this 

 day. A skin from the head of the bird could easily 

 have been prepared for the purpose, and would not 

 have been observed by the other birds. 



The stool to which the pigeon was tied by the feet, 

 was a circular piece of board six or eight inches in 

 diameter, fastened to a stick four or five feet in length, 

 and the opposite end was placed in a slot in a stake, 

 thus forming a hinge so that the bird could be raised 

 and lowered by pulling a string running to the fowler's 

 hiding place. By raising the bird and dropping it sud- 

 denly it was made to flutter as it was going down ; and 

 the flying birds seeing it, would begin to circle around, 

 coming nearer and nearer, until they finally Ht on the 

 bed around the stool-pigeon. Then the net would be 

 sprung over the unsuspecting birds. At once there 

 would be amass of fluttering, struggling pigeons, 

 with head's erect and protruding from the meshes of 

 the net. The fowler and his assistants would rush to 

 the massacre, which was the crushing of the head of 

 each individual bird between the thumb and the fore- 

 finger. 



The shooting of the young birds of squabs from 

 their nests was another cruel and detestable practice 



