202 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



and a back load of ammunition and a few edibles for 

 a lunch or two. At 9 p. m. they began shooting into 

 the treetops anywhere and everywhere, scattering out 

 in every direction and shooting into the treetops as 

 long as they could hear a bird fly. Then they gathered 

 into small groups, made camp fires and waited for day- 

 light, so they could find the dead and crippled birds. 



This w;:s the death blow to pigeons in Pennsylva- 

 nia. Which way or where they went no one knows for 

 they left Pennsylvania in the night. The night was 

 clear with a full moon, so the birds could see fairly 

 well which way they wanted to go. It is safe to pre- 

 sume they followed the same course they always took 

 when leaving this state in the spring or early summer. 

 They would go in a northerly direction, cross the state 

 of New York and go up into the big forests of Canada. 

 Their being driven out here in the night and on the 

 eve of starting a nesting suggests that before they 

 reached their destination in Canada or before they had 

 a chance to select a place for a nesting, the \ens drop- 

 ped their eggs. Therefore, there were no young birds 

 to eat the curd which had already started to form 

 and would keep on forming: until the laws of nature 

 had completed her work. Now, if there were no 

 young birds to keep tnis curd eaten out, it would fill 

 the craw so full the old birds would either starve to 

 death or such a large amount of curd in the craw 

 would cause something like milk fever, which woulo 

 be fatal to every bird that belonged to the body of 

 birds that were about to nest. There were always 



