172 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



all the forces of nature can restore to Kentucky 

 that morning sunlit arch of pigeons flying south. \ f 



They are forever gone! The laws at that 

 time gave them no protection, because it was con- 

 sidered that they were so numerous that the 

 inroads of man could have no appreciable effect 

 upon such countless numbers. Wilson, writing 

 about 1808, estimated that the flock observed by 

 him near Frankfort contained over two billion 

 birds, and a nesting colony near Shelbyville in 

 the same State extended through the woods for 

 nearly forty miles, the trees being loaded with 

 nests. 



During the next ninety years, the slaughter 

 of the birds went on unchecked. Pigeons were 

 netted and shot by thousands and shipped by 

 carloads and trainloads into the markets, or even 

 fed to hogs. Hunters, taking their families along 

 in wagons, camped near the nesting grounds, and 

 with clubs and fires and sulphur pots killed par- 

 ents and squabs on the nests. Boys and women 

 without guns beat the birds down with brushy 

 poles as they circled about bewildered by the 

 smoke and shouting. At one nesting place in 

 Michigan, 500 netters were at work, their catch 

 averaging 200,000 birds apiece ; at another it was 

 estimated that fully a billion pigeons were taken. 



Suddenly people noticed that Wild Pigeons 

 were no longer plentiful. The buffalo went "all 



