126 The Passenger Pigeon 



as many as five hundred barrels have been shipped to 

 New York and Boston in one day. Our commission 

 man in New York wrote us that loo barrels a day 

 could be sold there without affecting the market but 

 very little. 



I was at a pigeon nesting in the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania where there were from three to five hundred men 

 catching pigeons and squabs. It was a great sight to 

 see the birds going back and forth after food. When 

 nesting in such large bodies, they leave the food in 

 the near vicinity for their young. If they can find 

 plenty of food, they nest in large bodies; if not, they 

 scatter over the country and nest in scattered colonies. 



The nesting I mentioned in Pennsylvania was within 

 one mile of the cleared lands. We camped within two 

 miles of the nesting. The pigeons kept up a continual 

 roaring by their combined twittering and cooing, so 

 that it could be heard for miles away by night as well 

 as day. 



Sometimes it is almost impossible to catch the pigeons. 

 At the nesting mentioned the most experienced hands 

 found it impossible to take large numbers. The whole 

 crowd of men could not catch more than one man ought 

 to have caught under the circumstances. 



The young pigeons (squabs) were much sought after 

 in New York and Boston, and if sent in moderate num- 

 bers brought big prices, usually about two dollars per 

 dozen. When the squabs were old enough to market. 



