io8 The Passenger Pigeon 



In 1874 there were over six hundred professional net- 

 ters, and when the pigeons nested north, every man and 

 woman was either a catcher or a picker. They used 

 to catch them in different ways. What was known as 

 flight-catching was in the early morning and evening, a 

 spot being cleared of usually twelve to sixteen feet wide 

 and twenty to twenty-four feet long, large enough for a 

 net. This was known as the bed. About fifty feet from 

 the bed a brush house was built and the net was staked 

 down, two spring poles were set to spring the net out 

 straight, but loose enough to fall easy and cover the 

 full size of the bed. The front line of the net was tied 

 to these stakes and they were sprung or set back as if 

 all of the net was in a roll. A short stake with a line 

 attached to the outside edge ran to the bough house, a 

 stick about three feet long was placed under a catch 

 called the hub, and the other end of this stick was placed 

 against another peg driven in the ground. When the 

 short stick was pulled from underneath the crotch, the 

 spring poles forced the net over the bed; the short 

 sticks raised the net about three feet; and of course it 

 was all done very quickly. 



Another method was employed later in the season; 

 a place was baited with buckwheat, sometimes with 

 broomcorn seed, or wheat, for a week or two, and, when 

 a large body of birds was collected, the net was set. 

 A much larger net is used now. Then is when we got 

 our live birds for shooting matches. In the spring 



