Morning journal and courier., 1881-06-16

4
dian Territory-The Arrival of $500
| Pigeons in Time for the Coney IsIant
Tourn0ment-Hoyv they were Trapped
and Transported to this Market.
From the New York SUM-
There arrived on Saturday night at place
| near Jersey City, a car containing $500
wild pigeons that had been shipped from
Atoka, Indian Territory. They are the frs
| installment of 1000, which w. P. Thomas
| of Phillipsburg, N Y, contracted to supply
to the New York State Sportsmen's associa
| ton. The pigeons were placed in pens
| from which they will be taken as wanted
these pens are simply low, close sheds. Ar
Inclined plane of Slated framework in each
pen furnishes the pigeons with roost. They
are very shy. A slight noise on the outside
of pen produces a loud whir on the inside.
When the trap door of a pen was cautiously
opened yesterday to allow the reporter to
peer inside, the twitter and rustic made up a
strong volume of sound.
s'They make a good deal of noise" said
Mr. Thomas, ''but it is nothing to the din at
the pigeon roost where these were trapped.
I have heard the cackling of the pigeons, as
they were settling on their nests in the even
ing, fully a mile away" -
Mr.. Thomas makes business of trapping
pigeons for field sport. He will get four
more car loads from the Indian Territory,
making total of 4O, 600 pigeons.
1.-The business will not be profitable one
this year." he said, because we have had to
go SO far to get them. Heretofore the pig
cons have roasted in Pennsylvania or Michi-
gan. But this year, owing to the late, cold
spring, they did not come as far north as usu-
al, and they make a roost in the Pottawatto-
lnie reservation of the Indian Territory, 10
miles away from the nearest railroad station.
had to transport all nay lumber and sup
plies from Atoka, and the pigeons had to be
hauled there for shipment At one time
had fifteen wagons on the road. There are
several streams to be forded. and the Ar
buckle Mountains have to be crossed, but the
most of the way the road is pretty level. 1t
took wagon about three days to make the
trip from the roost to Atoka.
'.The roost is the largest have ever seen.
The country there is thickly grown over with
what they call post oak timber, from the fact,
I suppose that tree trunks are just about
post size. The acorns are SO abundant that
it is splendid feeding ground for them L
went into the roost for about ten miles with
out finding any signs of an end. Every
tree was thick with pigeons. the branches
bending down with their weight. when the
birds have been coming home from the feed
ing grounds in the evening l have seen
stream about mile broad flow through the
air for two hours, thick enough to hide the
sun, and making a noise like thunder L
should Judge the roost to be about twenty
miles long ana n1G66n DEOdu
t'There has been little or no shooting, and
that has been good thing for us, as shoot
ing makes the birds scary and harder to trap.
There is plenty of deer and turkeys on the
reservation, and the Pottawattomies do not
care for pigeons SO they do not hunt in the
roost The Indians were very friendly, and
some of them are working for st. Louis
firm that are catching squads and shipping
them to market. Men go about with poles
punching the squads out of their nests. They
are packed In barrels with ice, and sent to all
the large cities as far north as Boston. My
business was altogether with Live pigeons
which we caught in nets.
q Mr.. Thomas explained the methods of the
trappers The nets used will cover a space
of 10 feet by 80. One end of the net is fast ned
to rope, which is drawn taut, SO that when
let 90 the net is thrown out like an arrow,
falling upon the pigeons that have gathered
in front of it. The pigeons are generally
caught on their feeding grounds or their wa
ter beds. When good feeding ground is
located the nets are set, and the trapper puts
himself in hut of boughs at one end of the
net line. Pigeons are saved from one season
to another for use as decoys When q flock
of pigeons is seen coming, pigeon Is thrown
mp in the air to attract the attention of the
flock, the bird being pulled down again with
a string. This bird is called the flyer. An
other decoy bird called the stool pigeon is
made use of at the same time He is tied to
a perch, on the free end of strip of iron
band about four feet long. As the flock ap7
proaches string is pulled which makes the
spring bounce him up and down, and he flaps
his wings to keep his balance. He presents
the appearance to the approaching flock of q
bird lowering over a feeding ground, and
they settle down around him.
s.How many pigeons have you caught at
one time 2" the reporter asked.
sT once saw sixty-seven dozen caught at
one cast of the net,n said Mr.. Thomas, shut
thirty or forty dozen is an average big catch.
Sometimes there viii be only dozen or 30.
I have seen the net lifted up on the wings of
the pigeons until it bellied out like q balloon.
A number of pigeons toward the edge are apt
to get out, but the men are quick, and work
around the edges, slowing the birds in crates
as fast as they get them out, and rolling the
net up as they work in, until they have got
all the pigeons, when the net is set again for
another cast. = 1s5Easaz c br-sfs-2sfrj 81
The pigeons are caught on water beds as
well as on feeding grounds A water bed Is
made by filing an excavation with water.