Passenger Pigeon 425 



The tall trees for thousands of acres are completely killed, and the ground com- 

 pletely strewed with massive branches torn down by the clustering weight of 

 the birds which have rested upon them. The whole region for several years 

 presents a continued scene of devastation, as if swept by the resistless blast of 

 a whirlwind." Such a roosting place once existed on the borders of Lake Cham- 

 plain in New York, and the forest to a great extent presented a scene of total 

 ruin. Their nesting places were even more wonderful since they were necessarily 

 of greater extent. One described by Wilson near Shelbyville, Kentucky, was 

 several miles in breadth and extended through the woods for upward of forty 

 miles. Every tree of suitable size was loaded down with nests, a large hemlock, 

 for example, often holding from twenty to forty. The last nesting place in 

 western New York occurred in 1868, near Clean, and extended for fourteen 

 miles, while in Michigan the largest in recent years occurred in 1876 or 1877, 

 and was twenty-eight miles long and some three or four miles in width. The 

 last nesting place of any importance was also in Michigan in 1881, which Mr. 

 Brewster says " was of only moderate size perhaps eight miles long." 



With the advent of the white man in this country, and the blessing of civiliza- 

 tion, the war upon the Pigeon has been unceasing ! Whenever a roosting or 

 nesting place was discovered it was resorted to by a small army of despoilers, 

 and with guns, poles, clubs, sulphur pots, and nets the work of destruction pro- 

 ceeded. Frequently from fifty to one hundred dozen were taken at a single 

 throw of the net. At the large Michigan nesting it was estimated that five hun- 

 dred netters were at work and their average catch was 20,000 birds apiece, while 

 for another resort it was estimated that hardly less than 1,000,000,000, including 

 those dead and wounded but not secured, and the myriads of squabs left dead 

 in the nest, were "sacrificed to Mammon" during a single year. The result is 

 what might be expected, the Wild Pigeon is now a very rare bird, perhaps 

 quite on the verge of extermination. They apparently no longer breed in colo- 

 nies, but the comparatively few remaining break up into couples and resort to 

 isolated or scattered localities. 



The nests were slight platforms of sticks very insecurely placed and the eggs 

 one or two in number. Both birds assisted in incubation, "the females between 

 two o'clock P.M. and nine or ten o'clock the next morning; the males from nine 

 or ten o'clock A.M. to two o'clock P.M. The change was made with great regu- 

 larity as to time, all the males being on the nest by ten o'clock A.M." Their food 

 consisted principally of oak and beech mast, but also grain, nuts, seeds, and 

 occasional insects. They never fed near the "nesting," leaving that for the 

 young, but often went a hundred miles or more away. The manner of a large 

 flock while feeding is graphically described by Dr. J. M. Wheaton, who observed 

 it in Licking County, Ohio, in 1859: "The flock, after a little circling by the 

 foremost ranks, alighted upon the ground, presenting a front of over a quarter 

 of a mile, with a depth of nearly a hundred yards. In a very few moments 

 those in the rear, finding the ground already stripped of mast, arose above the 

 tree-tops and alighted in front of the advance column. This movement soon 

 became continuous and uniform, birds from the rear flying to the front so rapidly 



