PASSENGER PIGEON. 
205 
the second bank of the river. These continued passing for 
more than a quarter of an hour, and at length varied their 
bearing, so as to pass over the mountain, behind which they 
disappeared before the rear came up. 
In the Atlantic States, though they never appear in such 
unparalleled multitudes, they are sometimes very numerous ; 
and great havoc is then made amongst them with the gun, the 
clap net, and various other implements of destruction. As 
soon as it is ascertained in a town that the Pigeons are flying 
numerously in the neighbourhood, the gunners rise en masse ; 
the clap nets are spread out on suitable situations, commonly 
on an open height in an old buckwheat field : four or five live 
Pigeons, with their eyelids sewed up, are fastened on a 
moveable stick — a small hut of branches is fitted up for the 
fowler, at the distance of forty or fifty yards — by the pulling 
of a string, the stick on which the Pigeons rest is alternately 
elevated and depressed, which produces a fluttering of their 
wings similar to that of birds just alighting; this being per- 
ceived by the passing flocks, they descend with great rapidity, 
and, finding corn, buckwheat, &c. strewed about, begin to 
feed, and are instantly, by the pulling of a cord, covered by 
the net. In this manner, ten, twenty, and even thirty dozen, 
have been caught at one sweep. Meantime, the air is darkened 
with large bodies of them, moving in various directions ; the 
woods also swarm with them in search of acorns ; and the 
thundering of musketry is perpetual on all sides, from morning 
to night. Wagon loads of them are poured into market, 
where they sell from fifty to twenty-five, and even twelve 
cents, per dozen ; and Pigeons become the order of the day 
at dinner, breakfast, and supper, until the very name becomes 
sickening. When they have been kept alive, and fed for 
some time on corn and buckwheat, their flesh acquires great 
superiority; but, in their common state, they are dry and 
blackish, and far inferior to the full grown young ones, or 
squabs. 
The nest of the Wild Pigeon is formed of a few dry slender 
2 
