288 BREWSTER on the Present Status of the Wild Pigeon. (October 
entire summer. They do not, however, use the same nesting 
place a second time in one season, the entire colony always moving 
from twenty to one hundred miles after the appearance of each brood 
of young. Mr. Stevens, as well as many of the other netters, with 
whom we talked, believes that they breed during their absence in 
the South inthe winter, asserting as proof of this that young birds in 
considerable numbers often accompany the earliest spring flights. 
Pigeon netting in Michigan is conducted as follows: Each net- 
ter has three beds. At least two, and sometimes as many as ten 
‘strikes’ are made on a single bed in one day, but the bed is often 
allowed to ‘rest’ for a day or two. Forty or fifty dozen birds are 
a good haul for one ‘strike.” Often only ten or twelve dozen are 
taken. Mr. Stevens’s highest ‘catch’ is eighty-six dozen, but once 
he saw one hundred and six dozen captured at a single ‘strike.’ 
If too large a number are on the bed, they will sometimes raise 
the net bodily and escape. Usually about one third are too quick 
for the net and fly out before it falls. Two kinds of beds are used, 
the ‘mud’ bed and the ‘dry’ bed. The former is the most killing 
in Michigan, but, for some unknown reason, it will not attract 
birds in Wisconsin. It is made of mud, kept in a moist condition 
and saturated with a mixture of saltpetre and anise seed. Pig- 
eons are very fond of salt and resort to salt springs wherever they 
occur. The dry bed is simply a level space of ground carefully 
cleared of grass, weeds, etc., and baited with corn or other grain. 
Pigeons are peculiar, and their habits must be studied by the net- 
ter if he would be successful. When they are feeding on beech 
mast, they often will not touch grain of any kind, and the mast 
must then be used for bait. A stool bird is an essential part of the 
netter’s outfit. It is tied on a box, and by an ingenious arrange- 
ment of cords by which it can be gently raised or lowered, is made 
to flap its wings at intervals. This attracts the attention of pass- 
ing birds which alight on the nearest tree, or on a perch which is 
usually provided for that purpose. After a portion of the flock 
has descended to the bed, they are started up by ‘raising’ the stool 
bird, and fly back to the perch. When they fly down a second 
time all or nearly all the others follow or accompany them and the 
net is ‘struck.’ The usual method of killing Pigeons is to break 
their necks with a small pair of pinchers, the ends of which are 
bent so that they do not quite meet. Great care must be taken not 
to shed blood on the bed, for the Pigeons notice this at once and 
