. . a town that the Pigeons wereroosting or nesting in the neighborhood, great nets were set inthe fields, baited with grain or something attractive to thebirds. Decoy birds were used, and enormous numbers ofPigeons were taken by springing the nets over them; whilepractically every able-bodied citizen, men, women, childrenand servants, turned out to lend a hand either in killingthe Pigeons or in hauling away the loads of dead birds. Wherever the Pigeons nested near the settlements, theywere pursued throughout the summer by hunters an
. . a town that the Pigeons wereroosting or nesting in the neighborhood, great nets were set inthe fields, baited with grain or something attractive to thebirds. Decoy birds were used, and enormous numbers ofPigeons were taken by springing the nets over them; whilepractically every able-bodied citizen, men, women, childrenand servants, turned out to lend a hand either in killingthe Pigeons or in hauling away the loads of dead birds. Wherever the Pigeons nested near the settlements, theywere pursued throughout the summer by hunters and , in his account of the species (1759), states that severalextremely aged men told him that during their childhood therewere many more Pigeons in New Sweden during summer thanthere were when he was there. He believed that the Pigeonshad been either killed off or scared away. In either casetheir decrease was evident at that early date. > Pike, Zebulon Montgomery: The Expeditions of, during the years 1805-07, by Elliott Coues, 1S95,Vol. I, p. PLATE XVII. —YOUNG PASSENGER PIGEON. Photograph by Prof. C. 0. Whitman. This illustration was firstpublished in W. B. Mershons work, The Passenger Pigeon. SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 451 The net, though used by fowlers almost everywhere in theeast, from the earliest settlement of the country, was not agreat factor in the extermination of the Pigeons in the Mis-sissippi valley States until the latter half of the nineteenthcentury. With the extension of railroads and telegraph linesthrough the States, the occupation of the netter became morestable than before, for he could follow the birds wherever theywent. The number of men who made netting an occupationafter the year 1860 is variously estimated at from four hun-dred to one thousand. Whenever a flight of Pigeons left onenesting place and made toward another, the netters learnedtheir whereabouts by telegraph, packed up their belongingsand moved to the new location, so
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjobherbe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
