228 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



come to the salt bed. The netters never disturbed 

 them. Later on these birds would return with thous- 

 ands of their species, which greedily fed upon the 

 salted mud or dirt. When the birds became accus- 

 tomed to frequent the salt bed, the nets were set. I 

 have known as many as seventy-five dozen wild 

 pigeons to have been caught at one haul. The usual 

 market price for dead pigeons was $1 per dozen. 



"The great bulk of the pigeons that was sent to 

 market, when removed from the nets, was taken out 

 alive and put in pens. These pens, made of poles, were 

 about eight or ten feet wide, six feet high and from 

 fifty to one hundred feet long. The pens were built 

 over streams of water, natural or introduced. The 

 mud-covered and be-draggled birds would soon wash 

 and clean themselves. These were sold by thousands 

 for live-bird shooting contests, and usually brought 

 twenty-five cents a pair. 



Im.prisoned in Pens 



"The owner of these pens shipped the birds alive 

 to all parts of the country. They were placed in 

 wooden crates six inches high and about four feet 

 square. These crates, with especially constructed lad- 

 ders, were carried on wagons and the birds in them 

 were sent to the market or turned out in a pigeon 

 barn not less than one hundred feet square. 



"The pigeons in this barn were fed on shelled 

 corn, which was bought by the carload. A stream of 

 running water ran through a barn, at Sheffield. Thi'- 



