TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 101 



haul. Some trappers had three 

 or four such places, and would 

 go from one to another to make, 

 as we call it, a haul. 



"I could tell lots about trapping 

 pigeons if space would permit. 

 This nesting in Potter county 

 was ten miles wide and fifty 

 miles long, and it so happened 

 that I came to the same place in 

 the fall when the pigeons were 

 nesting, and several men told me 

 that -there were at least eight hun- 

 dred men that came at this nest- 

 ing to- trap pigeons. I spoke to 

 one old man who told me he had 

 followed the pigeons for forty 

 years and did nothing else than 

 trap them. Hundreds of barrels 

 of birds were shipped daily. 

 There were so many men there 

 that a large grocery store was 

 built there to supply those men 

 with groceries. 



"The two men I became ac- 

 quainted with told me they had 

 cleared over eight hundred dol- 



lars that summer catching pig- 

 eons. Now, brother sportsmen, 

 is it any wonder that there are 

 no more pigeons? I sincerely be- 

 lieve that the good lord has sent 

 them in some other country 

 where no man can find them or 

 molest them, although I have 

 read some years ago where it 

 was claimed the birds were 

 crossing the ocean and were caught 

 in a great storm, and that along 

 the shore they lay three feet thick 

 in some places; but I hope what I 

 have read may not be true and 

 that they will return again soon. 



I do say that I think they were 

 the nicest and best game we 

 ever had. I would like to tell 

 you how we caught them still in 

 the spring and put a few hundred 

 in a corn crib, and in a few weeks 

 they would get as fat as butter. 

 We always kept about six alive 

 for stool birds. I still have a 

 pair mounted that I used for 

 "mockers" in my nesting place. 



Aj^other Eggsucker Bird Np.st 



Above photoview shows.another 

 typical nest of the Texas Egg- 



sucker bird with originally six 

 very attriactive blueish green col- 



