The Banner-Democrat., 1898-03-19
THEWILD PIGEON'SFATE
LIKE THE BUFFALO 1T HAS ALMOST
DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW.


Countless Numbers In Various Parts of
the Countrywide Old "Pigeon ROost"
Was n Wonderful Exhibition-The War
of determination That Was Waged.
In Recreation, sportsman's maga-
zine, Mr.. Stanley Waterloo propounds
On interesting query and goes as far
toward answering it as he can. He
wants to know what has become OF the
passenger pigeon-commonly called
"wild pigeon" -. which within the
memory of middle-aged men existed
in North America in billions, and has
almost utterly disappeared. The fate
of this bird, says II. s. Garfield in the
Chicago Times-Herald, is strangely
similar to the fate of the buffalo. Both
ware here in countless swarms and
both wero wiped out by the waves of
civilization because they were easily
approached and slain. Nature, how
ever, generally has its balances.
Anybody could kill wild pigeons by
the car load where they were plenti-
full, but the bird was gifted with an
instinct which warned it to forsake
country wherein it was ruthlessly
slaughtered. This it has done repeat
edly since the settlement of America.
It was formerly abundant in New
York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
other States of the Atlantic seaboard.
There the work of determination be-
gan. The bird crossed the Alle-
ghenies, never to return, and made its
"roosts" in Michigan, Wisconsin and
neighboring territories. Still insane
Iy pursued with destruction, it moved
further west and south. It would not
cross the Rockies, and the last ssroost"
of the old gigantic size of which we
have any record was made in Indian
Territory. When this was broken up
the bird disappeared from the United
States. This was twenty years ago.
The dead pigeons were shipped
through the country in car load lots
and sold in the st. Louis market at
twenty-five cents dozen.
The old ''pigeon roost'' was Won
derful thing. When the..birds CAME in
at night the beating of their wings was
like the roar of the league-long roller
laundering on the strand. Branches
snapped under their weight. Potter
ing about under the trees were foxes,
wolves and other small animals of prey
feeding upon the squads which were
jostled from the nests. Describing a
s.roost" in Kentucky, Audubon says:
"When they passed above my head
| felt current of air which astonished
me. Thousands were already struck
down by men armed with poles, but
they continued to arrive without inter
, mission. Fires were lighted. The
birds precipitated themselves in masses
and Ipitched where they could, one
upon the other, in large heaps like bar
rels. Then the branches gave way
under their weight, cracked and fell,
bringing to the ground and crushing
the closely packed focks which Gov
cred every part of the trees. In vain
I tried to speak, or even to call the
person nearest me. It was with diff
Guilty could hear the guns fred. The
uproar continued oil night. At sun
rise all that could fly had disappeared.
Now it was the VOLTS turn, the howls
of which saluted our ears. Foxes,
lynxes, cougars, bears, rats, opossums
and martens, bounding, running,
climbing, pressed to the quarry, while
eagles and falcons of different species
flew down to take part of such rick
booty. The pigeons were piled in
heaps. Each took what he wished and
the pigs were left to satiate themselves
on the remainder"
Even after the great slaughter in
Indian Territory millions Of pigeons
were left. They came no more to
this country. In the course of an in
quiry that has extended over many
years, Mr.. Waterloo has discovered
that they have come back to the
United States in small punches now
and then, revisiting their old haunts
in the Middle States in a "pitifu
seeking way" as late as four or five
years ago. Mr.. Edward B. Clarke, a
Chicago naturalist, saw one in Lin
coin Park four years ago. Two
years ago some hunters on the Hi
rois River found a flock of dozer
and shot a cock and hen. Other
small groups have been seen in Mis-
souri, and Indian Territory. A foch
of fourteen now exists in Wisconsin.
It escaped from confinement in Nil
waukee last winter.
The millions of surviving passenger
pigeons have gone somewhere, but
where? Mr.. Waterloo inclines to thu
belief that South America is theil
present habitat. He says: ssWitf
the instinct of knowing when terri
tory had become uninhabitable, i
decided to return no moro to th'
United States. What then became o
it? SIS it not now annually flying
southwark and, making its grea
roosts in the vast wild region forming
the central part Of South America
and having for its food the nuts ant
berries of the vegetation lying between
the Andes and the peopled area alonl
the Atlantic coast? This is portion
of the problem yet unsolved. It is ,
matter of extreme difficulty to reacl
by mail, or to find in any way intelli
gent observers in any portion of tn
region over which, in theory, the pas
senger pigeon may now be flying.
Where is the passenger pigeon? Thi
is matter of much interest to tn