OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN AND ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETIES. 
One Year 25 Cents Single Copy 3 Cents 
* Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society, at Appleton, Wisconsin. 
Entered as second-class matter May 1(5, 1004 at Appleton, Wis., under the act of Congress of Mar. 3, ’79. 
VOL. IX. 
Fields Ruined by Pigeons Years Ago . 
Mrs. Jane E. Rappleye of Brooklyn, 
writes to the New York Sun as follows: 
“In Adams county, Wisconsin, one 
morning in April, 1871 or 1872, a large 
flock of strange pigeons alighted in our 
yard and foraged on the acorns. The 
previous autumn there had been the 
most beautiful crop of nuts we had ever 
known. Every day large flocks of the 
birds appeared, until within a week the 
air was so full of them that their shad¬ 
ows were like those from heavy rain 
clouds. 
“At that time, thirty-five years ago, 
that part of the country was thinly set¬ 
tled. One could ride miles without 
finding an inhabitant. We were pio¬ 
neers. The endless forests of oaks and 
pine were still untouched. Every few 
miles was a beautiful stream. It was an 
ideal resting place for the pigeons. From 
daylight till dark they were busy build¬ 
ing nests, and the noise they made was 
incessant and so great that it was a relief 
to us when the birds settled down for 
the night. 
“The nest was a frail affair of a few 
twigs, leaves and grass. It was a wonder 
such a nest could hold the one or two 
eggs and the fat little squab until it was 
able to fly, and as I remember now, we 
never saw more than one squab in each 
nest, though there were often two eggs. 
There were perhaps twenty-five nests to 
every tree, and these nests extended 
Xo. 3 
thirty-five miles through the forest, the 
belt of nested trees being from one mile 
to a little more than a mile in width. 
The belt was fairly straight and regular. 
“Our fields were soon ruined. It did 
not take such an army long to consume 
everything near the rookeries. After 
that we were told they fed as far as the 
Minnesota wheat fields. 
“Very few of us in that country at that 
time knew what it was to have feather 
pillows and feather beds, a much needed 
comfort for that bitter winter climate, 
and so it was a great treat for the old 
settlers to have such a bountiful supply 
of game and feathers come to them. 
Every one that could muster a shotgun 
was out whenever a flock of pigeons de¬ 
scended near a settler’s home in the open. 
The hunters had only to wave their 
arms to scare up the birds, then fire, 
walk over the ground and pick them up 
in baskets or bags. 
“The birds were not very wild and 
were not quite as large as our tame pig¬ 
eons, but fine eating. It was a great 
treat for the Indians, both for food and 
oil. The oil they collected in vessels. 
They used the oil for cooking, besides 
oiling their faces with it to make the 
skin tan and shine better and show off’ 
their paint. 
“There is no game superior to the wild 
squab. We would take our baskets, dog 
and ox team and ride out in the woods, 
take an axe and strike a tree a hard 
SEPTEMBER, 1900. 
