SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 451 



The net, though used by fowlers almost everywhere in the 

 east, from the earliest settlement of the country, was not a 

 great factor in the extermination of the Pigeons in the Mis- 

 sissippi valley States until the latter half of the nineteenth 

 century. With the extension of railroads and telegraph lines 

 through the States, the occupation of the netter became more 

 stable than before, for he could follow the birds wherever they 

 went. The number of men who made netting an occupation 

 after the year 1860 is variously estimated at from four hun- 

 dred to one thousand. Whenever a flight of Pigeons left one 

 nesting place and made toward another, the netters learned 

 their whereabouts by telegraph, packed up their belongings 

 and moved to the new location, sometimes following the birds 

 a thousand miles at one move. Some of them not only made 

 a living, but earned a competency, by netting Pigeons during 

 part of the year and shooting wild-fowl and game birds during 

 the remainder of the season. In addition to these there were 

 the local netters, who plied the trade only when the Pigeons 

 came their way. 



From the time of Audubon and Wilson, even before the 

 railroads had penetrated to the west, there was an enormous 

 destruction of Pigeons for the markets. Wagonloads were 

 sent to market, where the birds were sold at from twelve cents 

 to fifty cents per dozen, according to the exigencies of supply 

 and demand. Audubon tells of seeing schooners loaded in bulk 

 with Pigeons in 1805 that were killed up the Hudson River 

 and taken to the New York market. He says that from ten 

 to thirty dozen were caught at one sweep of the net. In the 

 early days the farmers destroyed large quantities of Pigeons 

 for salting, and people were employed about the roosts pluck- 

 ing the birds for their feathers (which were used for beds), 

 and salting down the heaps of bodies which were piled on the 

 ground. Birds and beasts of prey got their share. Audubon 

 in describing a great roost in Kentucky, says that the birds 

 took flight before sunrise, after which foxes, lynxes, cougars, 

 bears, opossums and polecats were seen sneaking off, and the 

 bowlings of wolves were heard; while Eagles, Hawks and Vul- 

 tures came in numbers to feast on the dead or disabled 



