The San Francisco call., 1910-11-13
ny G. o. SHIELDS,
President of the League OF American
SDortsmen

Frcshoene OF the League OF American
Sportsn,en
I WAS In Syracuse, N. Y, recently and
friend took me in his automobile
to the Onondaga Indian reservation.
seven miles from the city. was deen1v
impressed with the wreck OF nature
that showed on all sides. The hills were
covered with briers and brush instead
OF the stately forest that had once
graced them; deep gashes were washed
In the sides of the hills, and a stream
running through the valley that had
once been a clear. beautiful river was
now only a muddy. sluggish creek.
1t is humiliating to have to confess
that the American people are a nation
OF destroyers, yet that is true too.
They cut away tho forests without
making any provision for another crop
of trees. They till the soil until it is
worn out and then go away somewhere
else and start new farms They are
tunneling the earth in every direction
for coal and are burning it up without
any thought Of what the next genera
tion may do for fuel and for power
They are tapping the earth and pump
ing the oil and natural gas out of 1t
wherever these can be found.
Throughout all the timbered regions
wild pigeons furnished a large part Of
the living of the settlers. Hundreds OF
thousands of these birds were netted or
killed with clubs and salted down for
winter use.
During their migrations the birds
moved in t1ocks so vast that they OBJ
Scured the sun for hours at time and
their nestings frequently covered vast
areas of forest. The great Audubon de-
scrfbes nesting he visited and studied
in Kentucky that covered q territory
something like 100 miles square, and he
estimates the number OF birds to be
seen there at one time at 5000, 900
AS late as 1873 there was nesting
in Michigan that was from four to five
miles wide and 80 miles long.
BIRDS BY THE MILLION
The birds often packed in so thick
on the trees that their weight broke
off large branches. and the observer
can today find in some of our old for
ests snags projecting from the trunks
of veteran oaks, beeches and other
trees, the remains of large limbs that
were broken off by wild pigeons.
AS soon as a nesting was formed
settlers gathered from the surround
ing country and slaughtered the birds
by thousands. carrying them home,
using them for food as fast as pos
sible, sailing down quantities of them
the surplus being often fed to the
hogs.
Professional trappers followed the
birds from place to place They used
nets, in some cases 200 to 800 feet
long and so to 100 feet wide. These
were staked to the ground at one
edge and the other edge was held UP
by means of long spring poles. A
few captive birds on Long strings were
let loose from time to time and al
lowed to fly the length of their tether:
then they were drawn back and their
struggles attracted the attention of
the passing flocks. These would gather
on the ground under the nets to try
to find out what was wrong with tho
captives When some thousands of the
birds had been thus tolled under the
net the poles were sprung, the net
came down and imprisoned the entire
mass of birds. Then these were con-
fined in crates and shipped to the va
rious towns and cities, where they
were sold, often as low as 10 or Is
cents a dozen.
When the country was new these
great neStingS occurred simultan-
eously at various places, sometimes in
a dozen or more states at once But
nature even in its most bountiful
days, could not Withstand the terrible
slaughter that was visited on the pass