GAME-BIRDS AND PIGEONS. 



195 



Wild Pigeon. 



will soon be a matter of history. In many locali- 

 ties, especially along our Atlantic seaboard tier 

 of States, the bird 

 is now quite un- 

 known where fifty 

 years ago it an- 

 nually made its 

 appearance. In 

 enormous num- 

 bers these pigeons 

 would come, re- 

 main a few days, 

 and pass on. The 

 graphic account given by Audubon, that was ridi- 

 culed so by European naturalists, is true to the 

 letter. In November, 1865, I saw a flock that must 

 have contained three or four thousand birds. This 

 was in Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Since then I 

 have seldom seen even single birds. Dr. Warren 

 reports them as scattered about the State, but no- 

 where in great numbers. They will soon disappear 

 from this section, and the same will happen in the 

 West. They are captured there by " netting," and 

 the opinion has been expressed, and with good reason, 

 that " the pigeon will soon join the buffalo on that 

 list so disgraceful to humanity, ' the extinct' species, 

 a list that will be filled rapidly if a check is not 

 put on men's avarice and the law's shameful negli- 

 gence." (Chamberlain.) 



The following is from Wheaton's " Birds of Ohio :" 



"Mr. Read states that in the spring of 1851 they appeared 'in 

 vast numbers in the fields, feeding upon the dead grasshoppers, the 



