FOREST AND STREAM 
337 
daily.” About the same time, the people along 
the New England coast noticed that the Pigeons 
used to visit the marshes for mud every morn¬ 
ing, and then fly inland long distances. In this 
connection, “Sketches and Eccentricities of Colo¬ 
nel David Crockett, 1835,” has a pertinent note. 
“They frequently fly as much as eighty miles to 
feed, and return to their roost the same evening. 
This was proved by shooting them at their roost 
of a morning when their craws were empty, and 
then shooting them again in the evening, when 
.they returned. Their craws were then filled 
with rice, and it was computed that the nearest 
rice-field could not be within a less distance than 
eighty miles . . . near a roost, from an hour 
before sunset until nine or ten o’clock at night, 
there is one continued roar, resembling that of 
a distant waterfall ... A pigeon roost in the 
west resembles very much a section of country 
over which has passed a violent hurricane.” 
Breeding Places .—“The breeding places (were) 
of greater extent than the roosts. In the west¬ 
ern countries they (were) generally in beech- 
woods, and often (extended) nearly in a straight 
line across the country, a great way ... A few 
years ago, there was one of these breeding- 
places (Ky.), which was several miles in breadth 
and upward of forty miles in length. In this 
itiract, almost every (tree was furnished with 
nests, wherever the branches could accommo¬ 
date them. The pigeons made their first appear¬ 
ance there about the 10th of April, and left it al¬ 
together, with their young, before the 25th of 
May” (Hinton). Of their former numbers in 
New England, in 1741, Richard Hazen made 
this record: “For three miles together, the Pig¬ 
eons’ nests were so thick that five hundred 
might have been told on the beech trees a't one 
time; and, could they have been counted on the 
hemlocks, as well, I doubt not but five thou¬ 
sand, at one turn around.” Certainly, this as¬ 
sembly of these birds, both in their migrations 
and during breeding, has no parallel among the 
feathered tribe. 
Methods of Capture .—Whenever a roost was 
located, the Indians frequently removed to such 
places with their wives and children to the num¬ 
ber of two or three hundred in a company. 
Here they lived a month or more on the squabs, 
which they pushed from the nests by means of 
long poles and sticks. Similarly, in later times, 
the whites from all parts adjacent to a roost 
would come with wagons, axes, cooking utensils, 
and beds, and would encamp at these immense 
nurseries. Sometimes, just before the young Pig¬ 
eons could fly, the settlers and Indians would 
cut down the trees and gather a horseload of 
young in a few minutes. In one case, two hun¬ 
dred were secured from one tree. At night, it 
was a universal custom to enter with fascines 
of pine splinters, dried canes, straw, wood, 
or with any torchlike material, and push old and 
young from the trees by means of poles. Not 
infrequently they took pots of sulphur, to make 
the birds drop in showers, as it was claimed. In 
some of the larger roosts, the crashing limbs 
made it too dangerous for man or beast to ap¬ 
proach. In Canada, they occasionlly would make 
ladders by the side of the tallest pines, on which 
the Pigeons roosted. Then, when night came, 
they crept softly under and fired up these lad¬ 
ders. “But the grand mode of taking them (in 
the roost) was by setting fire to the high dead 
grass, leaves and shrubs underneath, in a wide 
blazing circle, fired at different parts at the 
same time, so as soon to meet. Then down rushed 
the pigeons in immense numbers and indescrib¬ 
able confusion, to be roasted alive, and gathered 
up dead next day from heaps two feet deep.” 
On the migrations also they suffered. Every 
firearm, club, or implement, was pressed into ser¬ 
vice when they appeared. Every one took a va¬ 
cation. The sportsmen shot them for fun; Indi¬ 
ans and settlers sought them as fresh food; and 
the planters killed them to protect their crops. 
If they fed on the cultivated fields, it meant 
famine to the early colonists; if they foraged 
in the wilds, they left no mast nor food for the 
hogs and resident wild animals. Of course, a 
Courtesy of W. B. Mershon. 
Band Tail Pigeon (Often Mistaken for Passenger 
Pigeon.) 
favorite weapon of offense was the old fowling- 
piece, and countless are the old stories of quar¬ 
ries ranging from ten to one hundred and thir¬ 
ty-two secured at one shot. That huntsman who 
could not take from two hundred -to four hun¬ 
dred in a half day was poor indeed. When the 
Pigeons were flying, it was an easy matter to 
knock down bagfuls by swinging a long pole or 
oar to the right and to the left. Neither was it 
impossible to bring them down by throwing 
sticks into the flocks. One writer told of a man 
who was enveloped in a low-flying flock. To 
save his eyes, he had to fall on his face until 
they had passed. Another asserted that when 
two columns, moving in opposite directions, en¬ 
countered each other, many usually fell to the 
ground stunned. Along the New England coast, 
they were caught on the marshes by means of 
live decoys. In other parts, stuffed birds were 
used to attract passing flocks. Many a man 
boasted of ten, twenty-five, or thirty dozens of 
Pigeons caught in a snare at one time. One 
writer claimed that cuming seed or its oil was 
found by experience the best lure to induce the 
Pigeons to these nets. Particularly favorable 
for netting were the salt springs, at which the 
nefters took as many as 800 to 1,500 or 1,600 
at once in one net. These Pigeon traps were 
various in form and construction. One was made 
of nets 20 x 15 feet stretched on a frame. This 
was propped up by a pole eight feet long. When 
the birds entered under it, a boy or man con¬ 
cealed by a fence withdrew the prop with a 
string attached to it, and the falling net enmesh¬ 
ed the birds. To the nets they were also allured 
“by what we call tame wild pigeons, made blind, 
and fastened to a long string. His short flights 
and his repeated calls never fail to bring them 
down. Every farmer has a tame wild pigeon in 
a cage, at his door, all the year round, in order 
to be ready whenever the season comes for catch¬ 
ing them” (Crevecoeur, 1783). 
Enemies and Mishaps. —Their enemies were 
legion. Wolves, foxes, and many other beasts 
frequented their roosts; birds of prey sought 
them alive or feasted on their dead bodies, both 
at the roosts, and over lakes. Mishaps overtook 
them on land and sea. On the land, storms rare¬ 
ly overwhelmed them. Over our Great Lakes, 
sometimes entire flocks were overtaken by severe 
tempests, forced to alight, and consequently 
drowned. Many times when they reached the 
shore safely from a hard flight, they were so fa¬ 
tigued as to fall an easy prey to man. For ex¬ 
ample, a whole British encampment in the Revo¬ 
lutionary War thus feasted for one day on Pig¬ 
eons which had just flown across Lake Cham¬ 
plain. Self-slaughter was another means of their 
destruction. The continual breaking of over¬ 
laden limbs took its heavy toll of wounded and 
killed birds, and it was a common practice, for 
man and beast, to gather up and devour the 
dead and dying, which were found in cartloads. 
Occasionally, animals were said to have gone 
mad from feeding on their remains. 
Their Uses .—All observers seemed generally 
agreed that they were delicate food. The Euro¬ 
peans preferred them for their flavor to any other 
Pigeons of their experience. Kalm, the Swedish 
savant, considered them the most palatable of any 
bird’s flesh he ever tasted. Throughout the coun¬ 
try, they were proclaimed of great benefit in 
feeding the poor; for many weeks, they furnish¬ 
ed an additional dish for the southern planter’s 
table. In Canada, “during the flights . • . the 
lower sort of Canadians mostly subsisted on 
them.” Another held them the exclusive food 
of the inhabitants of this section. During the 
shooting season, they were on every table. The 
hunters sold a part of their bag and kept the 
remainder. Often they fattened the live Pigeons 
for the market. These commanded good prices, 
but the dead birds sometimes sold as low as 
three pence per dozen, or a bushel for a pittance. 
In fact, one writer frequently saw them “at the 
