CHAPTER V 

 The Wild Pigeon of North America 



By Chief Pokagon,* from "The Chautauquan," November, 1895. 

 Vol. 22, No. 20. 



THE migratory or wild pigeon of North Amer- 

 ica was known by our race as 0-me-me-wog. 

 Why the European race did not accept that 

 name was, no doubt, because the bird so much resem- 

 bled the domesticated pigeon; they naturally called it a 

 wild pigeon, as they called us wild men. 



This remarkable bird differs from the dove or domes- 

 ticated pigeon, which was imported into this country, 

 in the grace of its long neck, its slender bill and legs, 

 and its narrow wings. Its tail is eight inches long, hav- 

 ing twelve feathers, white on the under side. The two 

 center feathers are longest, while five arranged on either 

 side diminished gradually each one-half inch in length, 



* Simon Pokagon, of Michigan, is a full-blooded Indian, the last Potta- 

 wattomie chief of the Pokagon band. He is author of the "Red Man's 

 Greeting," and has been called by the press the " Redskin poet, bard, and 

 Longfellow of his race." His father, chief before him, sold the site of 

 Chicago and the surrounding country to the United States in 1833 for three 

 cents an acre. He was the first red man to visit President Lincoln after his 

 inauguration. In a letter written home at the time he said: " I have met 

 Lincoln, the great chief; he is very tall, has a sad face, but he is a good man, 

 I saw it in his eyes and felt it in his hand-shaking. He will help us get 



