Morris tribune., 1906-12-08
RETURN OF WILD PIGEON.
Passenger Bird is Returning to its
Old haunfS.

Old Haunts.
reports from various localities in
the Lake Superior region indicate that
after an absence of thirty years wild
pigeons also called passenger pigeons
because OF the conspicuous habit Of
passing from one part of the country
to the other in immense fiocks, some
times clouding the sun in fight, are
coming back to the forests of "the
North country" saysd Two Harbors
special to the ST. Paul Dispatch. just
where these pretty birds of passage
have kept themselves for a third of
century is not known, but the general
supposition is that they have been
breeding in the wooded and unsettled
regions of South America. Woods
men report hundreds of them along
the Cloquet river, in st. Louis county
and colonies have also appeared, it is
said in the Wisconsin woods, north of
Superior. Last spring flock was
seen in the Pressure Isle Park, at Mar
quette, Mich, by the caretaker, who
when young man had killed many
of the birds and he recognized the
species at once.
Many middle aged and elderly men
remember the old days on their farms
in Minnesota Or Michigan, in the
great lakes region, when these birds
were SO numerous that a boy could
kill hundreds in day with no better
weapon than club. In those days,
trapping the birds for the market was
regular business with large number
of men. Nets were spread out in the
stubble field after the harvest. A few
decoy pigeons were placed here and
there, just as sportsmen now decoy
wild ducks in their flight. Then lured
by their kind and a lavish sprinking
of grain, the pigeons would descend
in thousands on the net covered
grounds. A dexterous sweep of the
net by experienced hands would en-
trap the quarry. The birds were serv-
ed at hospitals and restaurants in the
cities and were regarded as a great
deicacy. In fact, such great favor
did this food win that SQUAD raising
has been d profitable business since
the departure of the wild species
years ago.
Wild pigeons are of the dove family.
The male has narrow graceful point
ed tail and is about seventeen inches
long. The female is much smaller.
The upper parts are generally vari-
able blue, the neck richly CLOSED with
metallic golden violet and the lower
purplish or brownish red, fading be-
hind into a violet tint, nearly white
beneath the tail. The bird resembles
the homing pigeons and has wings
eight and a half inches long. Its
fight is remarkably swift and power
ful. The birds were once resident
throughout the year in the south of
Canada and the most northern states
which they were compelled to leave
in midwinter when the ground was
covered with snow. Stories about
old settlers seeing millions of passen-
ger pigeons, instead of thousands,
might seem somewhat exaggerated,
but early travellers in the region of
the great lakes have remarked in
their writings the enormous numbers
of these birds which required for their
food great quantities of grain. How
ever, grain never formed an extern
sive part of the feed, since the birds
did not settle upon and attack the
growing or ripening fields, but only
cleaned among the stubble. Their
food consisted mainly of the smallest
acorns and the thin shelled nuts, es-
pecially beech nuts and a variety Of
berries and small fruits. Where such
material was plentiful they gathered
in vast congregations which thronged
upon the trees until the branches
would break with their weight. They
covered the ground so thickly, turning
over the leaves in search of some
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