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PIGEONS AND PIGEON-NETTING. 
163 
like the British Dragoon Guards ; they 
are armed with Winchester repeating 
carbines and army revolvers, and are 
mounted on Western - bred broncos. 
Their work is to police the Northwest 
Territories, about seven hundred miles 
from east to west, and five hundred 
from the International boundary north- 
ward. Their work has been most thor- 
oughly done, both as regards keeping 
the Indian tribes quiet and preserving 
law and order among the settlers and 
in the towns. 
In the ranks of the Northwestern 
Militia of Canada are many old soldiers, 
and it is not an uncommon sight to 
see breasts decorated with numerous 
medals showing that the wearers have 
participated in several campaigns. 
There are many serving in the ordinary 
and permanent corps of the active mili- 
tia who have fought under the golden 
lions in every clime where the power of 
Britain is felt ; who saw the black waves 
roll on the square at Ulundi ; who fol- 
lowed the Ashantee and Abyssinian 
kings to their capitals ; who were with 
Wolseley in his dash up the historic Nile, 
and with Grahame when he stemmed 
the torrent of Arab fanaticism at Tamai 
and El Teb ; who followed Roberts when 
he drove the fierce Afghans before him, 
and those who saw the dash on the lines 
of Tel El Kebir. These men bring with 
them the steadiness of veterans and 
that spirit of invincible courage which 
has made the march of a British regi- 
ment the path of victory or to death. 
The lion’s cub will learn quickly from 
his sire. 
PIGEONS AND PIGEON-NETTING. 
BY LIEUT. WENDELL L. SIMPSON. 
P RIOR to 1876 the pigeons visited 
Southern Michigan in great num- 
bers every spring. As the snow 
began to melt in the open fields 
and the blue smoke of the maple-sugar 
camps began to curl above the woods, 
a flock of pigeons would be seen now 
and then — advance scouts of the im- 
mense army soon to follow. Then 
would come a few warm sunny days 
with clear, cold nights — days ever wel- 
come to the sugar-makers, though they 
quicken the camps into bustling life, 
add many hours to the day’s labor, and 
necessitate boiling all night to keep 
pace with the increased flow of sap. 
The white mantle of the long, cold 
winter was rapidly withdrawn from 
green wheat-fields and brown wood- 
lands, leaving only the hem of the 
whilom garment along the shady sides 
of walls and fences. 
Just at daybreak one fine morning 
the man who had been tending the pans 
during the night and keeping up the 
fires, roused the sleepers with the an- 
nouncement that “Spring has come sure 
enough, for the pigeons are here.” 
All hands were out in a moment, and 
while some prepared breakfast others 
made the shot-guns talk, for enough 
birds must be bagged before breakfast 
to supply a pot-pie for dinner. 
The pigeons had burst upon the 
country with the suddenness of a tor- 
nado ; and from this time on for several 
weeks there seemed to be no limit to 
their numbers. Thousands of pigeons ! 
Acres of pigeons ! Miles of pigeons ! 
From early morning until dark there 
were pigeons constantly in sight, passing 
to and from the feeding grounds, the 
numbers so increasing at times as to 
form continuous broad streams of life 
high over the fields and reaching from 
wood to wood. 
Approaching the birds as they were 
feeding in the woods, the eye could not 
reach the limits of the mass in any direc- 
tion. One heard a dull roar, like distant 
thunder, and upon nearer approach 
discovered that it was caused by the 
rapid vibrations of many wings as the 
birds rose continuously from the ground 
already gleaned to pass over to the other 
side of the feeding multitude. 
After feeding for an hour or two the 
pigeons often collected in the tree-tops 
preparatory to taking flight, and the 
crash of a limb down through the under- 
growth not infrequently announced that 
the burden of birds had been too great. 
The observing sportsman, lured to 
the shooting by the abundance of the 
game, soon learned that all birds taken 
in the morning and the late evening were 
