Overhunting on their nesting grounds certainly contributed to their demise but it was the fault of the timber industry as much as anything. They nested in flocked of millions, it takes a pretty big piece of timber to hold that many birds. They also fed almost solely on nuts (acorn and beech), again it takes an awful lot of trees to feed them. You can trace their decline to the cutting of the large hardwood forests of the midwestern US. When the big virgin timber tracts were gone so were the pigeons.
DLH
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I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house once in a quarter--of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three of four times; lived well and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Falstaff - Henry IV
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