112 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



hoping to see them come again and feed, but they did 

 not while I stayed. This net and bed belong to one 

 Harrington of Weston, as I hear. Several men still take 

 pigeons in Concord every year ; by a method, methinks, 

 extremely old and which I seem to have seen pictured 

 in some old book of fables or symbols, and yet few in 

 Concord know exactly how it is done. And yet it is 

 all done for money and because the birds fetch a good 

 price, just as the farmers raise corn and potatoes. I am 

 always expecting that those engaged in such a pursuit 

 will be somewhat less grovelling and mercenary than 

 the regular trader or farmer, but I fear that it is 

 not so. 



May 9, 1852. Saw pigeons in the woods, with their 

 inquisitive necks and long tails, but few representatives 

 of the great flocks that once broke down our forests. 



Sept. 2, 1852. Small flocks of pigeons are seen these 

 days. Distinguished from doves by their sharper wings 

 and bodies. 



March 29, 1853. He ^ saw two pigeons to-day. 

 Prated \j,ic\ for them ; they came near and then flew 

 away. 



March 30, 1853. A range-pole on the side of Mt. 

 Tabor,^ twenty-odd feet long and ten or twelve from the 

 ground, slanted upward on three forked posts like a 

 rafter, a bower ^ being opposite the lower end two rods 

 off, and this end of the pole full of shot. 



Aug. 9, 1853. Saw pigeons the other day (August 5). 



Sept. 2, 1853. Hear the sharp quivet of pigeons at 



1 [Dupan, of Concord.] 



2 [A hill near Beaver Pond in Lincoln.] ^ [A pigeon-stand.] 



