210 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



pigeons on the ground. The net was then sprung and 

 thrown over the birds on the "muck bed." The pig- 

 eoneers in the bough house would rush out, and if the 

 lead w^eights on the guy ropes were not sufficiently 

 heavy to hold the net down and thus prevent the pig- 

 eons from escaping, poles were laid on the edges of 

 the net or the net held down by the pigeoneers. The 

 birds were killed by crushing their heads or breaking 

 their necks between the thumb and fingers. When this 

 process tired the fingers, the heads of the birds were 

 then crushed between flat stones held in each hand. 

 Mr. Bennett invented and used long, round-nosed pliers 

 with which to break the neck, it being more humane 

 and effectual and its use less tiresome to the hand than 

 the other methods. 



In their nesting places, young hickory trees fully 

 fifty feet high would be so loaded wnth pigeons that 

 they would bend over until a man could touch their 

 tops. 



When the birds started out in the morning at day- 

 break to forage for food, they would circle the roost 

 until the flock looked like one solid body, then take 

 their course to feed, going many miles. 



The male bird would sit on the nest in the after- 

 noon. The morning flights were composed of the male 

 birds. They returned at noon, and the females would 

 go in search of food, but soon return to take the nest 

 in the night. This applies only to birds that were nest- 

 ing. The birds that did not nest were "mixed Ijirds," 

 and were too young to nest. When birds were nesting 



