The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1899-08-05
THE WILD PIGE0N'SFATE
t5---,
LIKE THE BUFFALO IT HAS ALMOST
Disappeared FROM VIEW

III sGOlOdtlOiJ q POAG'AupSAA u AhbSh0
zine, Mr.. Stanley Waterloo propounds
an 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
were here in countless swarms and
both were 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 plehti-
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
eddy since the settlement Of America.
1t 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 Ale
ghenies, never to return, and made its
''roosts" in Michigan, Wisconsin and
neighboring territories. Still insane
ly pursued With destruction, it. moved
further west and south. It would not
cross the Rockies, and thelastl "roosR'
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 ct
twenty-five cents dozen.
The old pigeon roost'' was won
derful thing. When the birds came in
ct night the beating Of their wingswas
like the roar Of the league long roller
laundering on the strand. Branches
snapped under their weight. Potter
ing about under the gtrees'were foxes,
wolves aud other small animals Of prey
feeding upon the squads. which were
/ iostled from the nests. Describing o
"roost" in Kentucky, Audubon says:
4 "Whon they passed above my head l
felt o current Of dir which Nstonishod
Inc. Thousands were already struck
down by men armed with poles, but
they continued to arrive without inter-
mission. Fires were lighted. The
birds precipitatel tienisel7esin masses
and ipitched where they could, one
upon thdother, in large heaps like bar
rels. Then the branches gave way
under their weight, cracked and fell,
bringing to the ground md crushing
tho closely packed focks which COW
cred every part of the trees. In vain
tried to speak, or even to call the
person nearest me. 1t was with diff
Guilty I could hear the guns fired. The
uproa' continued oil night. At sun
rise all that could fy had disappeared.
Now 1t was the VOLTS turn, the bowls
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 rich
booty. The pigeons were piled in
heaps. Each took what he wished and
the pigs wore left to satiate themselves
on the remainder" p. g...'a- ..e..
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 "pitiful
seeking way" as late as four or five
years ago. Mr.. Edward B. Clarke, o
Chicago naturalist, saw one in Lin
coin Park four years ago. Two
years ago some hunters on the Hi
nois River found flock of dozen
and shot o cock and hen. Other
small groups have been seen in Mis-
souri, and Indian Territory. A flock
of fourteen now exists in Wisconsin.
It escaped from confinement in Mil
waukee last winter.
The millions of surviving passenger
pigeons havo como somewhere, but
where? Mr.. Waterloo inclines to tho
belief that South America is their
present, habitat. He says: "With
theinstinct of knowing when o terri
tory had become q uninhabitable, it
decided to return no more to the
United States. What then became of
it2 as it not now annually flying
southwark ands making its great
roosts in the vast wild region forming
the central part of South America,
aud having for its food tho nuts and
berries of the vegetation lying between
the Andes and the peopled area along
tho Atlantic coast? This is q portion
of the problem yet unsolved. 1t is a
matter of extreme difficulty to reach
by mail, or to find in any way intelli-
gent observers in any portion of the
region over which, in theory, the pas
songer pigeon may now be flying"
Where is the passenger pigeon? This
is matter of much interest to the
naturalist, of much interest, in fact,
to everyone who is concerned in our
bird life.
~.