2o6 The Passenger Pigeon 



tv/enty-five years ago, and I there counted as high as 

 forty nests in scrub oaks not over twenty-five feet high ; 

 in many places I could pick the eggs out of the nests, 

 being not over five or six feet from the ground. 



I stopped then with the Win-a-ba-go Indians, and 

 was much interested in seeing them play mog-i-cin. I 

 had heard the fathers explain the game when a boy, 

 but never saw it before. I call it a gambling game. 

 Certain it is, when nesting in a wild state, the male 

 goes out at break of day; returning from eight to eleven 

 he takes the nest ; the hen then goes out, returning from 

 one to four, and takes the nest; then the male goes out, 

 returning, according to feed, between that time and 

 night. 



After the young leave their nests, I have always 

 noticed that a few, both males and females, stay with 

 them. I have seen as many as a dozen young ones 

 assemble about a male, and, with drooping wings, utter 

 the plaintive begging notes to be fed, and never saw 

 them misused at such times by either gender. Certain 

 it is, while feeding their young they are frantic for salt. 

 I have seen them pile on top of each other, about salt 

 springs, two or more deep. I wonder if your friend 

 gives his birds, while brooding, salt. 



Hartford, Mich., Dec. i8, 1896. 

 Dear Sir: — Yours of December 17th at hand. It 

 is indeed surprising to me that your place of business 



