Jan. 4, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
7 
Fragments of an Old Tale 
By A. W. KETCHAM 
S o much lias been written of the history and 
passing of the wild pigeon (Ectopistis 
macntra), that one hesitates to add to the 
full measure of detail, and the excuse for offer¬ 
ing the following is that it came from the lips 
of a fine old hunter who trapped pigeons for 
nearly thirty years. It was taken down much 
as he told it, which will also account for its 
rather fragmentary nature: 
His name is Peter Mercereau, of French ex¬ 
traction; he is now eighty-two years old, born 
on Staten Island, but moved to a farm near 
Toledo, Ohio, then a settlement of perhaps 500, 
in 1835. 
He first began to trap pigeons in 1857, on 
his father’s farm, by the same method he al¬ 
ways used, viz.: Two tall spring poles were 
driven into the ground about 235 feet apart, 
the net 35 by 15 feet being equidistant from 
these poles. When unsprung, the net was fif¬ 
teen feet from a line between the two poles. It 
could be sprung from a bush house around one 
of the poles, and when sprung, came just up to 
the line between the two poles, its edges being 
weighted with lead. One or two stool pigeons 
were used, perched on a pole ten feet long, 
which could be raised or lowered by a string 
from the brush house. On the ground, 
sprinkled about as if feeding, were dead birds 
carefully set up to look life-like. They also 
used a decoy bird tied by a string to its leg and 
blinded. This bird, fluttering at the end of its 
tether, would attract passing flocks nearer, then 
the stool bird was made to flutter, and if every¬ 
thing worked right, down would come the flock 
to the dead birds on the ground; but the stool 
bird was lowered as the flock came down. If 
he w'as raised after they had lit, they were off 
in an instant. When the birds had settled, the 
trap was sprung. If a very large catch, one 
man would rush at once to the net and hold 
it down, the weights not being sufficient. Some¬ 
times the number w'as so great that they would 
lift the entire net clear off the ground and all 
escape, but mostly the rope w'ould be pulled 
under the net, which had a slack of some eight 
or ten feet, and they would be secure. 
The stool birds were wild birds reared in 
captivity, and they often lived for eight years. 
They had two or three dozen at all times. 
They varied greatly in usefulness; birds that 
w'ould make a false move would spoil a catch. 
The stool birds were frequently killed by 
pigeon haw’ks, as tbeir fluttering would attract 
the haw'k. They kept a gun in the brush house 
to kill hawks. 
In the early days the birds were killed and 
shipped in barrels to New York or Boston— 
the primitive way was to bite their necks, and 
later they used a pair of pliers. When the 
birds were to be kept alive, the net was lifted 
to allow a man to creep under, then crates were 
passed to him and filled and passed out, empty¬ 
ing a net in a very short time. The price 
for dead birds was from $1.50 to $3 a dozen 
in New York or Boston. At one time they 
were as high as $3—probably a war price. 
1 'hey were shipped without ice until April. The 
prices for live birds were about the same. 
From one roost in Pennsylvania in his 
earlier trapping—in the 6o's—they loaded as 
high as three express cars a day—150 barrels 
to the car. This seems ruthless destruction 
now, but then it only seemed a good haul, no 
thought being entertained of their ultimate 
destruction. 
The trapping was mostly done in spring, 
usually in March. They trapped in the fall, 
but the birds were much more scattered, lack¬ 
ing the coherence of the breeding motive. In 
the vicinity of Toledo was a very favorable 
place, as the birds seldom crossed the lake, 
unless the weather was very favorable. They 
mostly came around the end of the lake on 
their way to the nesting places in Michigan. 
They kept in touch with the movements of the 
birds by telegraph and followed them some¬ 
times from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. At first 
they would nest sometimes in several of the 
States at the same time and probably also in 
QUAIL FEEDING IN WINTER. 
