THE WILD PIGEON. 227 



"The blue wild pigeons seek the deepest woods, 

 The loveliest forests of far Michigan, 

 Of the Minnesota and Kentucky realms, 

 Indiana woodlands and Ohio wastes; 

 And farther south, in Mississippi groves, 

 They swarming congregate in early spring, 

 And late in year their roosting-places seek " 



Yes, they sought these several States, they wended 

 their unceasing flight into the Territories; but, wherever 

 they went, they were followed, not only by the hawks, the 

 eagles, the vultures of the air, the wolves, foxes, vermin, 

 and beasts of the fields, but by man, heartless, unpitying 

 man, more unfeeling than their wild and inhuman ene- 

 mies, who murdered them in their babyhood or pinched 

 them to cruel death for a few paltry cents per dozen. It's 

 a sad review of human character, to think that this has 

 been done, and done in States where the violators were 

 within easy reach of an outraged law. When the birds 

 arrive at their feeding-grounds, they flutter along 

 through the trees close to the ground, picking up mast, 

 and hopping in short flight one over another, pell-mell, 

 gulping down everything edible within their reach. 

 When seen at a distance, at this time, they represent roll- 

 ing billows of blue and white in the gray woods. When 

 a breeding-place is chosen, then is a time of great excite- 

 ment, and the destruction begins, as they appear with 

 regularity, and the pigeon- netters and all interested par- 

 ties are constantly on the watch for them. One of the 

 most common and successful methods of bagging them 

 was shooting from stands. These stands were made by 

 cutting two poles eighteen or twenty feet long, then nailing 

 them on uprights nine or ten feet high. The manner of 

 building these stands and the place of putting them was 

 as follows: The pigeon-shooter selected a stand directly 

 in the line of flight, and near a piece of timber. It was 

 necessary that the place selected should be open, so the 



