What Became of the Wild Pigeon? 169 



from Cass County to Van Buren County, where I had 

 located in the beautiful village of Hartford. In the 

 year 1869 or 1870, the pigeoners, a class of men who 

 lived in Hartford, made a business of netting pigeons, 

 and they are living here yet, and not one of them 

 feels any pride in the part he took in the destruction 

 of these beautiful birds. In March, 1869, word was 

 received that a large flight of pigeons were coming 

 north through the State of Indiana. These men, who 

 had followed the pigeons for years, said, "As we have 

 snow on the ground they will be sure to nest near 

 here, and as we have had a big crop of beech nuts and 

 acorns last fall they will be sure to stop to get the 

 benefit of this mast." A queer thing about the pigeon 

 was that he always built his nest on the borders of the 

 snow, that is, where the ground underneath was cov- 

 ered with snow. 



Sure enough, as predicted, in two days after receiv- 

 ing notice of the flight of the birds from Indiana, 

 myriads of pigeons were passing north along the east 

 shore of Lake Michigan, and soon scattering flocks were 

 seen going south towards the bare ground. In a few 

 days word was received that pigeons had gone to nest- 

 ing in what was then called Deerfield Township, a vast 

 body of hardwood and hemlock timber. Then it was 

 that the pigeon killers, with their nets, stool birds and 

 flyers commenced making preparations for the slaugh- 

 ter of the beautiful birds when they began laying 



