Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-01-09
wATERTOWN'S BIRD INDUSTRIES

again OfOugnb luIO pfOulueuC0 Ui1lOuSH
an article printed in The Sunday Sen
tinel descriptive of pigeon raising and
the stutfing of geese. Accompanying
the article are two pictures showing
Alderman Albert Wegemann's famous
dove farm-an interior and an exterior
view. The Sentinel article is no
doubt of general interest, so we here
with reproduce it:
When the Western packer who
wanted to enter the Four Hundred
offered Ward McAllister 200 to
teach him he society way Of eating
quail on toast. he did not know the
chances were dollars to doughnuJs
that the meat he was to experiment
on was Wisconsin pigeon, instead of
Nebraska quail. That the shipment
of these quail" is an industry pecul-
lar to Watertown of all Wisconsin
towns would be surprise to even
most Milwaukeeans, who as a rule are
unaware that about $4,000 pigeons
are kept in cotes in that city to breed
and sell to game dealers.
AS matter of fact. W atertOwn's
"quail' industry is one which would
astonish the average Wisconsin person
by it's magnitude. Thoasan S Of bir>'
are killed there and shipped to Chics
go and the East annually, but in Mil
waukee, only few miles away, there
is almost no market for the birds.
This is probably because the game
laws ir this state forbid the sale or
killing Of the real bird, so any placing
of the substitute delicacy on a menu
card would bring the game wardens
around IN coveys. The occasional
pigeon pie however, may be Water
town expectation.
In and near that city there are no
less than five dove cotes, in one of
which alone over $4,000 pigeons are
housed. The four smaller cotes are
all within a radius of FIVE miles from
the city and all do a large business.
The largest Of the cotes is owned and
conducted by Albert Wegemann. 1t
IS located on the bank of the Rock
river. and consists of a court sur
rounded on three sides by low brick
buildings, like the old California
| monasteries. while in one corner is
the frame granary, and in another a
remodeled dwelling house.
One dove alone can make a small
bit of a noise with it's cooling. but
when thousands of the birds are gurg-
ling at once, the sound is audible for
block or more, like the whirr of
thousands of skates on frozen pond
The entrance of an intruder varies the
sound as the millions of feathers beat
the air taking one back to the times
| of the Arabian Nights, when the great
roc lowered over its victims.
| Inside the court which forms the
big cote, there were found on a recent
visit few birds flying about uncon
fined. but the majority were under
wire screen which allowed plenty OF
flying room. without making the place
a nuisance for the surrounding neigh
borhood. Ii was almost feeding time,
and the doves were flying about aim
lessly, those inside the brick buildings
peeping out from the cave-d weller
like holes which spotted the walls be-
tween the windows, as if anxious for
dinner to be served.
There were pigeons Of all kinds and
colors. The cropper, with his copper
colored body, stood out in marked
contrast to the pure white birds
mingled among those of more mixed
blood, while the ruff1e-necks perched
on the clothes-hanger racks inside the
wire cage, and the blowers pulled out
! their threats. as if trying to imagine
that their crops were full. Black and
yellow s'turnblers." homers and let
ter-carriers p" lived in the same happy
! family with the mongrel. most Of the
birds being those with the changeable
cerise and green feathers which form
ed a collar about their necks.
Down in the basement of the lofts.
bags Of crushed corn we're warming
! and then it was time to feed the
EQUALS" Three bags of crushed corn
were for lunch, and three bags more
of broken barley from the breweries
were to form the breakfast in the
morning. In the Enclosure there
were watering troughs, fed by con-
tinuOus strerm IF water from a pipe
line, and on the ground near the
troughs the bags full of grain were
dumped.
While the pigeons focked out from
the lofts by the thousands, carpeting
the grouud with their feathered
bodies, the common English sparrows
gathered about the wire netting,
shiver:ng, and ruffiing up their feathers
in the cold, looking hungrily down.
upon the doves below which we're be-
iue fatted for the killing, The SPAR
rows could get through the netting.
but dash among the pigeons for a
bit of corn would be but to be beaten
to the ground under the wings Of the
larger birds which were continually
moving from one part of the cage to
the other.
Now is about the dullest period of
the year in the pigeon business, but
even at this time the shipments of
dressed SQUADS, and other birds as
we'll, will run to about 400 a week,
! largely to Chicago and New York.