The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-06-26
ORIGIN OF TERM STOOL PIGEON

flying and was alighting. Once the
nock OF birds began to approach you
ceased to work the decoys. Soon the
ground was black with pigeons where
the wheat was scattered . Then you
pulled your taut rope and the big net
The sudden move would brighten
them likely. but as they flew up they
would find themselves helpless with
their heads damned through the
meshes . Most pigeon trappers just
pulled the heads off as they protrud-
ed through the net. and in this way
several hundred could be killed in "a
very short time"
Most of my wild pigeon trapping"
concluded Mr.. Hobbs. was done in
Ross county. Ohio. in the early sew
entities. where l lived as a young man.
[ remember that in my first pigeon
trapping attempt my cousin and I,
near Yellow Bud. Ohio, caught and
killed over 430 pigeons. Plentiful as
they were there was a good market
for them and we shipped the So doz-
en- to Portsmouth Ohio. getting $3.50
a dozen for them"
The wild pigeons, now extinct, AS
is we'll known. We're considered very
good eating. They were about the
size of h tame pigeon OF today. the
meat very dark and of a distinctly
"gamy" flavor. When they were kill
ed in large numbers some persons
would, after dressing them, salt them
and pack them away for future use,
while another method vas to select
the Youngest and plumpest birds and
from these cut the breasts only. the
rest of the bird being considered
worthless for keeping. These breasts
We're then slightly sailed and dried
thoroughly, in which state they were
easily kept until winter, and when
the housewife desired, as a change of
diet. a pigeon step or Il potpie, all she
had TO do was to take a number of tina
dried breasts and soak them over
night in a jar of fresh sweet milk,
which softened and restored them to
their original plumpness and flavor.
f"" did this. however. as the great
prevalence of game of all kinds in
these days obviated the necessity
for it.
The forage of the wild pigeons was
mostly mast-small nuts and acorns
on the oak trees. which at that time
were most abundant in many parts of
the country. Their feeding was chiefly
done in the dence forests. yet. strange
1" say. they seldom made their roosts
Very far from towns or settlements.
These rooStS were something wonder
full. II il is difficult in this day and
generation to conceive of them. Mill
lions of birds. actually %obscuring the
sky like a great cloud, would descend
in som" seemingly pre-selected wood.
and their settling in the boughs and
branches was a cen indescribable.
Limb after limb. upon which the birds
would settle so closely as to be a com
pact mass. would bend beneath the
load and finally break, and the crash
ing limbs. the whirrir- wings and the
cries of the oftentimes injured ones
made a pandemoniur1 of sound. Final
ly the birds would become partially
settled for the night and there would
be comparative quiet.
1t was then that the old time pigeon
slaughters look place. Scores of per-
sons would sometimes assemble. not
only from h neighborhood. but from
miles around. the flight and setting Of
the birds having been observed. and
concerted attack would he made on
the hapless victims. A popularity of
these wild pigeons was that when at
tackled they would not attempt to- take
flight. but stupidity allow themselves
to be dubbed out Of the lower branch
es of the trees or would fly but a few
feet and again alight. There was no
restriction on the killing of the pig
cons, but in most localities there
seemed to he a sort of unwritten law
against the use of gun in attacking
a pigeon roosf, although some did use
guns in violation of the accepted Gus
tom. Clubs. sticks and long poles
were used in knocking III birds from
the trees. 1t was no thing
to sec wagon beds filled with the
bodies of the slaughtered pigeons. and
these in some cases would he dis
tributed among those who We're not
so fortunate as to get to the roost.
1t might be added that invariably
the tree upon which these vast num-
bers of birds roasted were hlighted
and usually killed. as was all the un-
~dergrowth beneath the trees. In many
parts of the country. veal after year,
the same locality was chosen by the
birds as roosting places in their an
nually recurring flights.
But the continuous slaughter of wild
pigeons eventually wiped them out of
existence and only one wild pigeon of
the countless millions that winged
their way over the North American
continent now exists. This bird lives
In III zoo at Cincinnati. and when il
dies its body will be sent to- the nation
al museum at Washington. A wealthy
bird lover of the east has a standing
offer of $4,000 for evidence that a pair
of wild pigeons is in existence in the
world.