The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-08

made no effort to fly out into the dark.
 They simply chung to the branches
 while the owls lowered near and struck
 their bills into them nor did any : amount of such punishment ever cause
 them to change roosting places. Many
 of them fell during the night, borne
 down and disabled by the weight of the
 comrades above them, and underneath
 them always were foxes, wolves, minks,
 wildcats, raccoons and such things
 ready for the succulent feast. The
 ground under pigeon roost was always
 blood and feathers.
 The birds unchangeable .determina-
 tion to sleep in the company of it's
 fellows was most fatal to it. It was
 the most gregarious of feathered things.
 Companionship of it's kind was as neces-
 sary to it as air Often the eXperi-
 ment has been tried of capturing a half
 grown pigeon and shutting it in cage,
 and invariably it has lived only few
 days. It did not die of bad water, bad
 air or bad food Not even confinement
 killed it. Lack of company caused it's
 death. It was the habit of the pigeon
 to band in the Northern woods, where
 it's millions were watched and go South
 after the first frost. It would make for
 some section which possessed an equable
 climate and there make it's winter home,
 always in a forest and always in nut
 bearing region. To it would come other
 band of thousands and the entire colony
 would form 'ro0st," numbering per
 haps ten millions, perhaps one hundred
 millions of individuals. No man could
 say. There was no possible estimation
 of the numbers. Each 'roost" drew | into it's net and held there all passenger
 pigeons within three hundred miles or
 so. Only in very rare instances were
 two of these vast gatherings within the
 same neighborhood. Beginning just at
 daylight and continuing until the sun was half-hour high, the birds rose in succession with roars like the deep
 grumble of thunder and darted away to
 their feeding grounds for the day These grounds might be three hundred
 miles distant. In some cases they were
 even farther. From a huge 'rooet'
 which once existed in eastern Kentucky the birds fed far down into Tennessee. It is even said that some of them visit ed Georgia and Alabama daily It is certain that they frequented the woods of Virginia and North Carolina. Simi- larly a "roost" placed in northeastern Indian Territory sent detachments in- to Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. The endurance and swiftness of the bird were such that distance was of no prac- tical moment to them The upper layer on the trees left first and these bands flew furthest Whatever the number of leagues they covered, however, before lighting to feed, all of them had re- turned to the roost by dark or little after, though on bright moonlight nights they might be later.
 Even at midnight a pigeon "rooet" was never silent place.. The breathing of one bird is, of course, too faint a sound to be caught by the finest of re- cording instruments, but the breathing of 1000 is a different matter. Always I at night the woods where the birds I were sitting were filled with soft, | steady whisper, very, very subtle yet | still distinct. The pigeons did not move at all once they were settled They sat | through the long hours as motionless as if carved from rock, yet at short inter- vals would come a thunderous crash, | echoing and re-echoing among the trees, | caused by the breaking of some great, | though partially decayed limb breaking | beneath it's load of flesh. Following | this reverberating fall would come | beating of winge as the birds tried to find other perches and then again, save for the breathing murmur, absolute si- lence would reign.
 People who lived withing striking of the "roosts'' never thought of using ammunition upon the game. It would have been sheer waste. The pigeons weretaken often in nets which k were cast about them as they sat upon the branches, but the favorite means of obtaining them was by the use of long poles with which they were knocked down in heaps. The butchers simply walked to the roost and there lighted torches, or pine splinters in brazers carried upon their heads, or built large fires here and there The birds, stupe- fed by the light beating upon their eyes, did not attempt flight. They merely and gazed until it struck, When each of the men had filled a large cotton sack with as many of the lead innocents as he could carry the slaughter was discontinued for the night, and this was never a matter for more than half hour When the In- 1ian Territory "roost' was in existence, selected pigeons--that is those still showing pin-feathers or other signs of being yearlings-eold in St. Louis at 20 ( cents a dozen. A wild pigeon wa4ld weigh pound when dressed. There never was cheaper or better favored neat. The bird like all members of it's 'amily,. was of dark flesh throughout put it had plump and tender breast ts thighs were well filled out and it's wings, of course, highly developed. Cher was much juice in 1t and strong lash of that indescribably flavor which dds to the zest of the gourmand and makes him prefer game feathered hings to those of domestic origin The wild pigeon was as much better than a anne pigeon as a wild turkey is better han a tame turkey. The passenger" vas excellent broiled, very excellent i pasted in hot ashes, wrapped around ( with young leaves and wet clay, and C uper- excellent baked in a Dutch oven, l nore particularly if stuffed with etale s orn bread and mashed pecan nuts and
 dash of Madeira added, to show that ( here was no hard feeling. Indeed, nan may sit up part of the night with E young tame pigeon prepared in this t