Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-07-23
A Michigan Pigeon RoOst.


! about sixteen miles long and three wide,
| where every bough is occupied by dozen
! nests and a hundred birds, where the air
Whirrs from dawn till dark with cease
| less wings going and coming, where the
flights that settle cover square acres with
| a living carpet, where from $50 to 400
men have for six weeks or more been
| engaged IN trapping and killing without
cessation or let, and yet not made the
numbers appreCiably less; imagine fifty
square miles of pigeons, and that Is the
| scene. As the old birds leave or are de-
| strOyCd by millions, millions of young
ones take the wing, and almost daily
armies of reinforCementS fly nOrthward
from far-away Kentucky and Missouri,
the beat Of whose wings and whose
countless numbers obscure the sky and
emit a hollow roar as if a tornado or
thunderstorm were approaching.
There are three regular g flights" a day
two " tom-dights" and one "hen-fight"
! At early dawn the male birds set out f1v-
ing to the east and north to seek break
! fast of seeds and berries, ten. twenty, or
| fifty miles away, and by six or halfpast
| six the sky is black with the depart
ing birds. They tower up in great ar
mics to considerable height, each sheet
of birds-sheet is the word that best
describes them-wavering a moment
like the needle Of the compass when
disturbed, then taking flight in the ap-
pointed direction with unanimity and
evenncss Of speed that would make one
believe that every bird was animated by
the same impulse at the same instant
An hour later not a bird is to be SEEN
but toward eight o'clock the rush of the
returning armies is heard. Squadron
after squadron arrives cleaving the air
with unWearied wings and unfailing
sense, tluttering, wheeling and descend
| ING each division over its own district
! each bird over the nest of its faithful
mate. AS TOM after "tom" returns to
| take his trick at the domestic helm,
hen" after hen" rises upward, and the
armies of the AmaZons 90 out to the east
! and north. Toward nine o'clock the
! scene is indesCribable. 1t is a very at
! mOsphere Of wings, earth and forest have
/ been converted into feathers, and the eye
! gaZes down yistas Of pigeons to far hori-
IONS Of SQUAD pies and saints de t0llrtes
sGuCages. Metropolitan readers will
| imagine a tract Of woodland twice the
width of Manhattan Island and twice as
| long as from the Battery to Harlem
! River, birds arriving in flocks of a hun
/ u,
as numerous, a very Broadway of the air,
extending over a whole county BY and
by the last female suffragist departs, and
the meek males remain incubating In
the middle of the afternoon the hens"
return and the toms" depart to make
an evening of it, returning before or
about sunset. The late birds, who stay
out till dusk, having apparently the
! latch-key to their several nests, seem
bothered when returning, and fly very
| low, sweeping along the ground until
| they get their bearings. Then begins
! such a slaughter as marked the coup
| det0t. Poles and clubs are the weapons,
and at every sweep a dozen birds,
| Drained, crippled or manned, tumble to
! the earth. Scarcely less simple and
efficient is the practice of raking them
down at night with poles from the lower
branches of trees where they roost. Let
it be said that the birds often settle so
thickly that boughs as large in cir
| conference as a mans thigh are
/ broken off by the weight, and that the
! new and tender shoots are blasted by the
incumbent mass. The foxes, and. later
in the year, the hogs, fatten on the I'M
! gathered hecatombs that are left dead or
TO die in the grass.
1
Cipal weapons affected by the hunters
The beach of Crystal Lake, where the
waters were lowered last wear, affOrding
sheet of level sand some twenty-five
miles round and nearly half a mile wide,
is thickly dotted with the stands Of the
hunters-small huts of pine boughs in
which the hunter sits with his guns At
times poles are placed for roosts without
and deCOys employed to induce the
birds, like Dilla, to come and be killed.
a raking discharge sweeping them from
the poles literally by DOZENS But when
thick flights are of regular occurrence
there is nothing to do but to blaze away
and pick up the dead The nets
do more wholesale execution, but require
a larger capital Round a woodland
spring, where the birds will stOOp to
drink, the smooth ground is abundantly
spread with corn mingled with salt, the
water of the spring being also sailed
with a liberal hand For several days
the birds that 90 thither in search of food
are allowed to take their fill and carry
home the good news. AT last, growing
| bold by habit, they come not single spies,
but in battaliOns, and settle down to
work. the ground Systematically. They
| advanced en- ec8eI0n, with this advantage
that being blessed with wings the rear
ward companies, as they find corn scarce,
| Fly over the heads of the front companies
and settle upon unoccupied ground, in
turn to become again the rear guard.
When, therefore, this sailed ground be-
comes the regular resort of flights of
birds 1000 or 5000 strong the woodland
free-Iunch system is abolished, and the
BIRDS are made to "pay with their per-
sons" as the French would say. The
nets suspended on stakes round the
ground are struck, there is a hurried and
thunderous roar of wings as those most
happy tiy Off, and the earth is covered
with a carpet of dark blue. The net
rustles and undulates with the efforts of
the imprisoned birds to escape. Then
the tTapper comes out and releases them
one BY one. If he is trapping for market
he wTings their necks and they are
barreled and carted away. If It is in
tended to sell them alive thew are placed
in cOops and shipped, or stored in harms
and houses. The biggest catch of che
year has been 800 birds, though it is of
record that one trapper secured nearly
1900 st one strike.-Cor. Men Y0rE
! World.
| NECKLACES of small gold horsesboes
| have been introduced, and being some
| what novel will be fashionable for awhile
1t is said that Nilsson originated the
| fashion