The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-07-31

feathers, and the eye gazes down vistas
of pigeons to far horizons of SQUAD pies
and salnais de tourtes saueages. Metropulit-
an readers will imagine tract of wood
land twice the width of Manhattan Is
land and twice as long as from the Bat
terv to Harlem River, birds arriving in
flocks of a hundred thousand, birds de-
parting in flights as Numerous, very
Broadway of the air, extending over
whole county. b. and by the last fe-
male sufragist 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 ont till dusk,
having apparently the latch-key to their
several nests, seem bothered when re-
turning, and fy very loT, sweeping along
the ground until they get their bearings.
Then begins such slaughter as marked
the coup d'etat. Poles and clubs are the
weapons. and AZ every sweep a dozen
birds, Drained crippled or manned, tum-
bic 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 bonghs as large in cir
conference as a mans thigh are broken
off bv the weight, and that the new and
tender shoots are blasted By the incum-
bent mass. The foxes, and, later in the
year, the hogs, fatten on the ungathered
hecatombs that are left dead or to die in
the grass.
The shotgun and the net are the prin-
cipal weapons affected by the hunters
The beach Of Crystal Lake, where the
waters were lowered last year, 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 Ii
which the hunetr sits with his guns. A
times poles are placed for roosts withou
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 wheI
thick flights are of regular occurrence
there is nothing to do but 10 blaze away
and pick up the dead. The nets d.
more wholesale execution, but requir
a larger capital. Round WOODLAND
spring, where the birds will stoop L
drink, the smooth ground is abundant.
spread with corn mingled with salt, tn
water of the spring being also salte'
with a liberal hand. For several day
the birds that go thither in search c
food are allowed co take their fill an
carry home the good news. At las
growing bold py habit, they come nc
single spies, but IN battaliOns, and settl
down to "work" the ground systematic
ally. They advanced en- echelan, wit
this advantage, being blessed with wing
the rear-ward companies, as they lin
corn scarce, fly over the heads Of II
front companies and settle upon unocct
pied ground, in turn to become again th
rear guard.
f When, therefore, this salted ground b
comes the regular resort of flights (
birds 1000 or 5000 strong the woodlar
, free lunch system is abolished and III
birds are made to "pay with their pc
, sons" as the French would say. tt
, nets suspended on stakes round Il
ground are struck, there is hurried al
: thunderous roar of wings as those mo
happy fly off, and the earth is cover
: with a carpet of dark blue. The n
O rustles and undulates with the efforts
. the imprisoned birds to escape. Th'
: the trapper comes out and releases the
r one by one. If he is trapping for mark
4 he wrings their necks and they are ba
. relied and carted away. If it is intend
to sell them alive they are placed
IS coops and shipped, or stored in bar
q and houses. The biggest catch of t
10 wear has been 800 birds, though it is
n record that one trapper secured near
1900 at one strike.-COr. New u
50 World