The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-02-21

the pigeons passing in three hours
would form a streak $50 square miles
in area, and, counting two pigeons to
the square yard, there would be nearly
a billion and a quarter pigeons in
such a flight. How many there must
have been in the three days flight he
did not undertake to say. Audubon's
observations We're that each pigeon
eats fully half a pint of GOD a day.
The pigeons in a three-hour flight
would thus need nearly 5000, 900 bush
els of foo a day.
Audubon made several pilgrimages
to a famous roosting place on the
banks of the Green river in Kentucky.
He rode through the forest for upward
of 40 miles. and by crossing and re-
crossing 1t reached the conclusion
that the roost was of an average
breadth Of three miles. His first view
of it was about two weeks after the
pigeons had established it as a roost-
ing place. He arrived about two hours
before sunset. Few pigeons We're to
be seen, but there were great numbers
of people, who, with horses and wag-
ons, children and dogs. guns and I'M
munition, had established camps on
the borders of the forest. Two farm
erG had driven more than 900 hogs
over 100 miles to fatten them on pig
cons that were to be slaughtered. Here
and there were people engaged in
plucking and sailing the catch of the
day before. Many trees two feet in
diameter had been broken off by the
Chppr NyaiDht nf thn y,,1tif11Inc rf
.roosting birds. Everywhere great
branches of forest monarchs were
broken off, and the aspect of the thou
sands of acres of woodland was such
as one might expect to be the result
of a fierce tornado.
Some of the people who were camp
ing there had great pots of sulphur.
Others had poles, and others guns. 1t
was after shutdown that the cry went
up that the returning hordes We're APP
preaching. The noise they made re-
Audubon of a hard gale at sea
passing through the rigging of a close
reefed vessel. AS they passed over
his head he felt a current of air that
.astonished him. Thousands of birds
were knocked down by the pole men,
tens of thousands and ever mil
lions continued to pour in. They
.alighted everywhere, one above an
other, until masses as large as hogs
heads We're formed on the branches all
around. Here and there perches gave
way under the weight with a crash,
killing hundreds of birds as they fell.
was uproa n confusion.
Tho ronnla nnn1l NIT Iaar thar,ea1roe
talking to ona another, and ever the
Of shotguns and blunderbusses
could not be heard above the great
noise. Audubon sent a man out from
the forest to see how far the noise
could be heard, and it was plainly
audible three miles distant. By mid
night the stream of arrivals began to
fall off, but before the break of day |
the advance guard began to out
again. While no n dared go in the
woods while the pigeons We're in the
trees, they were able to kill and Grip
pie enough of them to keep ali the
people busily employed next day, with
enough left over to give the 800 hogs,
the wolves, the foxes, the ~lynxes, the
cougars, bears, r%accoons, possums,
polecats, eagles, and hawks a more
than satisfactory breakfast, and at
the same time to say enough bach
for the %vultures that came to %supplant
the animals and the birds of prey.
James Fenimore Cooper also saw the
flights of the passenger. pigeons, and
he said that in a single flight he had
seen enough birds to provision XerXe's
army for a month and enough feath-
ers to provide a downy couch for ev-
cry person in the country.
The white man and his net are re-
sponsible for the disappearance of the
passenger pigeon from the face Of the
earth. They began their forays about
1910. The profession of pigeoner came
into existence, and these men banded
themselves together to exploit the
pigeon. By the telegraph they were
able to keep in close touch with the
movements Of the pigeons, and no
pigeon roost could be established for
many days before the pigeoners We're
on hand to get in their deadly work.
They carried with them trained stool
pigeons by which they were enabled to
call down great flocks of passing
bAids anu uel DIS MANY DIS they poSSi-
bly, could pack in ice and ship. In the
last great "roosting" in Michigan in
1873 more thar 900 tons of the dressed
birds We're shipped out. lens of thou
sands of them were caught alive and
sold to sporting clubs for trap shoot
ing purposes.
When some pigeoner happened to
discover that during the nesting sea-
son the birds We're frantic in their eff
forts to obtain salty mud and water
he found a bonanza for his ilk Great
mud beds along streams were covered
with salt and nets We're set above
these. Hundreds Of thousands of par
ent birds would come for their salt
and water, the traps would be sprung,
and often a single net would catch
more than a thousand birds. The
pigeoners carried blacksmith pinchers,
and a pinch for each captive neck, and
then a struggle and then some starry
ing squads. was the tragedy of their
work.
Chief Pokagon, the last of the Pot
taWattomie c%hieftains Of the POkagOn