THE PASSENGER-PIGEON 247 



that in descent they brought down several other trees 

 with them. The falhng of one large tree sometimes 

 produced two hundred squabs, well-nigh full-grown, and 

 a mass of fat. 



Although in the Atlantic States passenger-pigeons 

 seldom appeared in such enormous companies as in the 

 Western States, they were quite numerous enough, and 

 great havoc was wrought among them with the gun, 

 clap-net, and other implements of destruction. As soon 

 as it became known in a city or township that the " pas- 

 sengers " had arrived in the neighbourhood, local gunners 

 rose en masse ; the clap-nets were laid in suitable situa- 

 tions, and, live decoys being made to flutter on a stick 

 as birds just alighted, numbers of the passing flocks were 

 induced to descend and feed on the corn, buckwheat, 

 etc., which was strewn around the nets. By such means 

 as many as thirty dozen pigeons have been taken at one 

 sweep. Wagon-loads of the birds used to be poured 

 into the markets, their price ranging from fifty cents 

 to twelve cents per dozen. The price offered for one live 

 passenger-pigeon to-day is $3000. 



