344 WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 



times startled them in the dense woodlands. I pre- 

 ferred for once, however, ambush to pursuit, since the 

 result of the latter method was a sitting mark. The 

 birds were wild and wary, difficult to approach within 

 range, and when they took wing went through or over 

 the heavy foliage with a noisy rush of wings, but were 

 at most times invisible. 



Shooting through an opening in the leaves at a single 

 bird, I was often rewarded with some four or five, 

 which had been unseen in the heavy foliage when the 

 shot was fired. Such shooting will do for beginners, 

 but does not interest those fond of shooting at a flying 

 mark. I had similar sport with the pigeons one autumn 

 in the oak groves of Northern Illinois, shooting on a 

 pass between two groves. They were quite abundant 

 that year in the trees about the ravines in the village of 

 Lake Forest, north of Chicago, and I shot many there 

 without leaving the village. 



A small flock of pigeons or a single pair is occasion- 

 ally reported in some newspaper as having been seen 

 in the Northwest, but it is doubtful if there is a live 

 passenger pigeon at large to-day. There are but a 

 very few in captivity. 



The pigeons are gone, but the lesson taught by their 

 disappearance remains. Insufficient legislation, insuffi- 

 cient enforcement of existing laws for bird protection, 

 a lack of public sentiment in favor of the birds, caused 

 the annihilation of this race of food birds. 



Mr. Leffingwell well says: " It wasn't done by sports- 

 men, for no man having the heart of a sportsman could 

 go into a roost of pigeons and strike down the innocent 

 fledgling with a club while its mouth was crying for 



