178 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE 



though most of the birds had passed on before 

 our arrival, the professional pigeon-netters, confi- 

 dent that they would finally breed somewhere in 

 the southern peninsula, were busily engaged get- 

 ting their nets and other apparatus in order for 

 an extensive campaign against the birds." 



The largest nesting-place ho ever visited was 

 in 1876 or 1877. It began near Petosky, and 

 extended north-east past Crooked Lake for 28 

 miles, averaging 3 or 4 miles wide. The birds 

 arrived in two separate bodies, one directly from 

 the south by land, the other following the east 

 coast of Wisconsin, and crossing at Maniton 

 Island. He saw the latter body come in from 

 the lake at about three o'clock in the afternoon. 

 It was a compact mass of pigeons, at least 5 

 miles by 1 mile M^ide. The birds began building 

 when the snow was twelve inches deep in the 

 woods, although the fields were bare at the time. 

 So rapidly did the colony extend its boundaries, 

 that it soon passed literally over and around the 

 place where he was netting, although, when he 

 began, this point was several miles from the 

 nearest nest. Nestings usually start in deciduous 

 woods, but during their progress the pigeons do 

 not skip any kind of trees they encounter. 

 The Petosky nesting extended 8 miles through 

 hardwood timber, then crossed a river — bottom 

 wooded with arborvitse, and thence stretched 

 through white pine woods about 20 miles. For 

 the entire distance of 28 miles every tree of any 

 size had more or fewer nests, and many trees were 

 filled with them. None were lower than about 

 15 feet from the ground. Pigeons are very 



