Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-04-04
PIGEONS AS QUAILS.
Monster COtes in cOn "here
Birds Are Raised for
Market.

When the western packer who
wanted to enter the -Four Hundred
offered Ward McAllister $1,000 to
teach him the society way of eating
quail on toast. he did not know the
chances were dollars to dOughnuts
that the meat he was to experiment
on was Wisconsin pigeon, instead of
Nebraska quail. That the shipment
of these quail" is an industry pc
culiar to Watertown of all Wisconsin
towns would be a surprise to even
most Milwaukeeans who as a rule are
unaware that about 10000 pigeons
are kept in cotes in hal city TO breed
and sci! to game dealers.
AS a matter of fact, says the Mil
waukee Sentinel. Watertown's "qua1I'
industry is one which would astonish
the average Wisconsin person by its
magnitude. Thousands of birds are
killed there and shipped to Chicago
and the east annually, but in Milwau-
kee, only a few miles away, there is
almost no market for the birds. This
is probably because the game laws
of this state forbid the sale or killing
of the real bird, so any pacing of the
substitute delicacy on a menu card
would bring the game wardens
! around in coyeys. The occasional
pigeon pie however, may be a Water
town expectation.
In and near that city there are nc
less than five dove cotes. in L OF
which alone over $4,000 pigeons are
housed. The four smaller cotes are
all within Il radius of five miles from
the city. and all do 4 strange bus
ness. The largest of the c1tes is
! owned and conducted by Albert Veg
emann. It is on the bank of tht
Rock river. and consists of a courr
surrounded on three sides by low
brick buildings like the old California
monasteries. In one corner is the
frame granary, and in another a re
modelled dwelling house.
Inside the court which forms thu
big cote there were found on a re
cent visit a few birds flying about
but the majority were under a wir'
screen. 1t was almost feeding tim
and the doves were flying about aim
lessIv. those inside the brick build
fngs peeping out from the cave dwell
er-Iike holes which spotted the wall
between the windows, as if anxiou
for dinner to be served.
Down in the basement of the loft
Lays of crushed corn were warming
and then it was time to feed tn
EQUALS" Three bags of crushed cor,
We're for lunch, and three bags NOR
of broken barley from the brewerie
were to form the breakfast in tn
morning. In the Enclosure there wer
watering troughs, fed by a continU
Gus stream of water from a pipe lint
and on the ground near the trough
the bags full of grain were dumped
While the pigeons fiocked out fro1
the lofts by the thousands, carpetin
the ground with their feathere
bodies, the common English sparrow
gathered about the wire netting
shivering, and ruff1ing up their featl
ers in the cold, looking hungrily dow
at the doves below which were bein
fatted for the killing. The sparrow
could get through the netting, bu
a dash among the pigeons for a b
of corn would be but to be beaten {
the ground under the wings of tn
larger birds which were continual
moving from one part of the cage
the other.
There is no choice in the species {
birds, any strangers that are offere
to the owners of the cotes being a
cepted, homers and swallow dove
alike 1t is the young that sell bes
the SQUADS which are killed befol
they are fully ~feathered out. IL
prices paid range from 25 cents to
cents a pair to 25 cents each dresse