HteJtgL. 
THE PIGEONS VANISHING, 
Tliey Are Goinq; the Way of Other Amer- 
ican Gamp — Backless Netting- of the Birds 
—A Singular Anomaly. 
It is not so many years since that flights 
of ' wild pigeons occurred during the 
I Autumn over the Eastern and Middle 
States. The youngc/generatlon of spofts- 
i men, however,, has probablyl never seen a 
| living specimen of that bird,, its acquaint- 
j ance with it being Confined, entirely to 
| lihe plucked specimens on the [Stands of 
dealers in the market. Mr. William 
iirewster, who has made a thorough 
and exhaustive study of the causes 
of the disappearance of the wild 
j pigeon from its former haunts, 
has established the fact that its flight in 
a yast body is now entirely confined to 
toe great uninhabited wilds of British 
North America. Mr. Brewster, in the 
course of his investigations, followed the 
route of the flight which occurred in the 
southern peninsular of Michigan in the 
Spring- of 188S. The main body of birds 
; disappeared across the Straits of Mac- 
kinac, much to the distress of the betters, 
who were making preparations for an 
old-time harvest. AtCardillac Mr. Brew- 
ster learned from Mr. S. S. Stevens,' an 
experienced observer, that in . 1888. near 
there, the pigeons appeared in a consid- 
erable number; but that not more than 
a few hundred were seen in one body. In 
speaking of the great nesting of 1876-77, 
Mr. Stevens said that it began near 
Petosky and extended to Crooked Lake 
for twenty-eight miles, averaging three 
or four miles wide. The birds arrived in 
two separate bodies, orfe directly from, 
the South by land, the other following 
the east coast of Wisconsin and crossing 
at Manitou 1 island. The latter body 
came in from the lake at about 3 o ? clock 
in the afternoon. It was a compact mass 
of pigeons at least, five miles long by one 
mile wide. In', the nesting .season of 
1881 Mr. Stevens estimates that. 300 men 
were engaged in netting pigeons, and 
that they secured on the average 20,000 
birds each during the season. 
What has contributed more than any- 
thing else to the annihilation ol' the wild 
pigeon is the reckless netting of that 
bird. Mr. John Mortimer Murphy, in 
describing the- taking of pigeons in nets, 
speaks of them as seines which ere so 
rigged that upon being sprung they fall 
upon the birds, which . at the moment 
may be upon the ground. There are two 
methods by which the pigeons are de- 
coyed; the one by baiting, whereby a sin- 
gle pigeon attracted by the food scattered 
about calls a great number of his fellows, 
upon whom when collected in sufficient 
number .the net is sprung. It is not an 
uncommon thing to trap from 200 to ■ 300 
pigeons at every cast,, and as the casts 
are numerous, the number taken through- 
out the day. is very large. 'Another 
method consists in trapping the pigeons 
as they fly over the net. This requires 
the use of decoy birds, whose eyes are 
sewn up, and a light weight at- 
tached to the legs to prevent 
1 them from flying away. These are 
thrown into the air when a flock is pass- 
ing by to attract its attention, while 
traineii decoys — that is, pigeons trained 
to act as if alighting — are' worked indus- 
triously at the same time. If these 
bring down the flight the net is sprung 
and fastened at the four corners. The 
captives are taken out and. disposed of 
according to tire purposes of the netters. 
Some are kept alive in coops while others 
are killed and packed immediately for 
market. From 500 to 1,000 men were 
sometimes engaged at one time in net- 
ting, and each averaged 1,000 birds a 
day. This' account applies to a period 
when flights of pigeons were large and 
numerous all throughout the Middle. and 
Western States. As stated above, the 
last occasion when nets were profitably 
employed was at the great nesting in 
1876-77, in the Northwest. 
It is a singular anomaly that while 
throughout our vast, sparsely populated, 
territory, wild animal and bird life is 
greatly diminishing, England, with its 
dense population, offers the spectacle of 
its phenomenal increase and prosperity. 
This is attributed to the abandonment, in 
the latter country, of lands for agriculr 
' tural purposes and, their use almost en- 
tirely for grazing cattle and sheep. Mr. 
Anderson Graham, in the last number of 
Murray's Magazine, an English periodi- 
cal, contributes an article entitled, 
“ Kooks and Farmers, in which he says 
that the increase of wild life in England 
is not Confined to sections like Northum- 
berland; bqt is found in every agricul- ( 
tural district, even those in the neighbor- 
hood of large towns. The sole exception 
to this: notable increase is in the case eft 1 
magpies, hawks and ravens, Which are 
only kept down by the persistent efforts 
of the gamekeepers. Squirrels, which a 
few years since were scarcely ever seen 
in England, have now become so abund- 
ant that they are vigorously killed on ac- 
count of the great injury they are doing 
to the fir trees. Nearly every one of 
those in the Fenton Hill Wood, in a tract 
some mile and a half long, will have to 
be cut, and all the young plantations at 
Ewart Wilderness are destroyed. 
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