Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-01-11
THE PIGEON BOOSTS.
THEY USED TO BE so CROWDED
TREES WERE BROKEN DOWN.

The Pretty bird, Like the BufIalo, Was
Ruthlessly Slaughtered - There Is Not
Now n Roost In the Country-A Hunter,
Not Yet Old, Has Seen the Change.
A party of neutrality-suspicious. who shoot
for the sport and recreation there are in it
were talking the other day about tho
disappearance of game, four legged and
winged, when they were suddenly inter
rupted by Mr.. w. II. Donaldson, one of the
most enthusiastic of their number, with
| the question;
"Did you ever see anything so complete.
! ly disappear as the wild pigeon? There
| isn't 'roost' in the United States today,
and from what can understand there is
none on tho North American continent
except it may bo one or two small ones in
| Canada"
Mention the pigeon 'roost" to n young
hunter today, and he will ask you what
! you mean. He has heard of it, and
that is about all. And yet Mr.. Donald
son and those who hunted with him are
| but in the prime Of life, and they saw the
| roosts in all their glory. In few words,
! the roosts are or rather were, places where
| the pigeons congreg0ted in almost innu-
merable numbers and Matched their young.
They were formerly found in all parts Of
the United States. They are referred to
by james Fenimore Cooper, particularly in
| THE Pioneers" In the carly days they
were found in the east, just as the early
settlers found the buffalo at the mouth Of
the st. Lawrence, even in the frigid zone.
And they have disappeared justas the buff
falo has disappeared.
For their roosts, or Matching places, the
pigeons always selected dense forest or
grove in the most inaccessible plsace to he
found, There they would build their nest
and lay their eggs, and there they would
remain eight or nine weeks, by which
time the eggs would have Matched and the
young birds have been able to fly. They
would come in hocks of Hundreds and thou
Sandstone old timers say millons-bu
all the testimony goes to show that they
never did any harm that Il war of extermi-
| nation should have been Waged against
them.
The only harm worked by them was in
the breaking down of trees. They roasted
in such numbers that limbs of trees even
of considerable size We're broken. A grove
after their departure looked as if n cyclone
had struck it. But the groves they select
ed were always wild ground. They never
selected one on n farmers property. As
for food, they were never like other birds.
They did not disturb the newly planted
or growing crops of grain. Leaving their
roosts in the morning, they would fly long
distances-some say hundreds of miles
in search of such food as they desired.
Returning at night their whrring would
sound like the roll Of thunder. In flight
they We're so dense rs to seem like a cloud
obscuring the sight They were also En-
, Il
and circing around frequently. In this
locality their flight was always over the
outskirts of the city. Many men who are
. not yet very far advanced in years can tell
, OF having shot into these tlocks from the
vicinity of Jefferson avenue, bringing
down dozen or two dozen birds at n time.
These men were then schoolbOys Mr..
Donaldson tells of many times he went out
before breakfast returning for his morn
ing meal III time to go to school. There
was sport in this for the boys of course.
but very little for the older hunters, who
enjoyed shot according as it was difficult.
There never was any sport about the
pigeon roost-that is, sport as it is defined
by the gentleman hunter. This sports
man, when he took shot, wanted a bird
on the wing so it would have n chance
for its life. There wasn't really any ne
, cessity of firing gun into roost. When
they We're fired into, the only sport was il!
seeing how many birds could be killed at
once. Ten to fifteen was nothing unusual,
while often a couple of dozen might be
brought down But as to securing the
birds the use of shot and powder was Il
, waste. A good heavy club and strong arm,
suffced The club thrown into n tree
would bring down the pigeons like nuts
bisl \ fa we'll fer
T clubs thrown, and the ground would be
covered with the dead and manned birds
y though, no matter what their number
might be, they could not be missed from
the limbs of the trees. The roosts were
: visited by hunting parties, to be sure, but
/ not for sport. The hunter who heard Of
c n roost in the vicinity of where he might
y happen to be would always visit it, but
$ his visit was wholly out of curiosity. He
always found the country folk there from
4 miles around. but they also came from Gu
"A riusity. They didn't care for the birds
t but they entered into the work of slaugh
= ter, just rs if the pigeons, like the flies
Y were without end as to being and increase
t They never had the least idea that tn
day would come when Il pigeon pie would
: be thing of the past, as it practically il
now. They could not imagine the tim
when pigeon or SQUAD would be luxury
In those days the pigeon had no market
They might be worth % cents dozen
but to be worth that n purchaser had t.
be found. Thus the bulk of the slaugh
tered birds were fed to the hogs or left tt
rot Oh the ground There is something o
y lesson in this as to game birds still il
existence. The flesh of the wild pigeon i
very sweet, and there is about as much o
it as on the quail. Just compare the pi
geon at 25 centsa dozen, and no buyers, t.
the quail at So and 81. 80 a dozen and NOR
buyers than can be satisfied. The quai
in the early days was marketed at abou
80 cents dozen. 1t, too, was slaughtere'
until it became so scarce that laws had t.
be passed to prevent its extinction. Al
of the surrounding states have laws nov
which run for five years and which, it /
hoped, will give the bird new life. Thi
law is being reasonably enforced In Mis-
souri,, but enough birds to partially SUP
ply the market are being brought in iron