Recollections of "Old Timers" 137 



rail fence. Carefully the gun is raised and aimed; the 

 trigger is pressed. "Ker-whang" in a cloud of smoke 

 is the loud report. The old cock, startled, flies away. 

 "Missed him, by gosh!" is the boy's lament as he starts 

 to reload, whilst in unison with the rattle of the grains 

 of powder in the flask, there comes drifting down on the 

 morning breeze, slowly wafting here and there, a long 

 tail feather from that noble bird to show that though 

 missed, yet the aim was true. 



Yours truly, 



Ben O. Bush. 



Kalamazoo, Mich., June 17th, 1905. 

 Dear Mershon: 



Do not understand me as to my assertion, that in nest- 

 ing time the wild pigeons in feeding, the males always 

 alternate with the females, each having a day off and 

 a day on throughout the period of incubation and the 

 rearing of the young. It depended upon the amount of 

 food and the distance that they had to go to get it, 

 and they changed their habit according to the conditions. 

 If they had to make a long flight, as was the case when 

 they passed over here, then they alternated; but I will 

 agree with you that their habit In nesting time when 

 food was plenty and not far away, was for the males to 

 sit first in the morning, then the females, and sometimes 

 the males a second time, all in the same day. Pigeons 

 require a great deal of water, and sometimes their crops 



