DOMESTIC PIGEONS 95 



and offer a target to any one who wished to take 

 a pot-shot. 



A number of years ago the author attended a 

 pigeon shoot in New Jersey. A large part of the 

 local population, especially boys, had gathered at 

 a safe distance to view the spectacle. The coun- 

 try was rugged in character, and each inequality 

 hid a youth, as did each tree-trunk and every 

 large boulder or post-and-rail fence. The sports- 

 men in the center were ringed by a half-mile circle 

 of ancient army muskets of Civil War vintage, 

 Flobert rifles, and shot-guns of all types and de- 

 scriptions, either single- or double-barreled, muz- 

 zle- or breech-loading. If a pigeon escaped from 

 the men at the traps, — and many did escape, — i;he 

 weapons of the callow multitude went into action. 

 The air was continually alive with flying pellets 

 of lead, and the neighborhood was treated to a 

 noisy imitation of the Battle of San Juan Hill. 

 Birds which happened to succumb to the fusillade 

 later found a way into pigeon-pies; other more 

 ifortunate individuals returned to their natal roosts 

 to be sold again for the morrow's sport. Such 

 was at least one pigeon shoot in America. 



But live pigeon-shooting is now a dead sport 

 in the United States, as it is in most European 

 countries. In Monaco alone does it still retain 

 high favor, and there it is undertaken more as' 

 a betting medium than anything else- Clay 

 "birds" have elsewhere taken its place, and now 



