THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 89 



nut timber for export to Liverpool, England, from 

 which to manufacture gunstocks. I\Iy guide was the 

 dignified Osage Indian, John Aurochs, sometimes call- 

 ed, in lighter vein, "Johnny Redox." I told the Indian 

 the story of tlic j)igcoii.-. llic hkii, tlic liats, and of the 

 ''Swedish Nightingale" and Ole Bull, inquiring if there 

 had been any pigeons seen in the Indian country since 

 the spring of 1886. He said that he had seen only a 

 few pigeons during five years, and that the Osages 

 then revered the Red-bird, the Texas Cardinal, as 

 their celestial patron, because the passenger pigeons 

 returned to them no more, as they formerly did at 

 their early nesting period. Then he became quiet and 

 thoughtful, gazing iiitcj the camp-fire for a long time, 

 after I had ''rolled up" in my blanket. to enjoy a long 

 cool night of sleep. After breakfast next morning, he 

 was as cheerful as usual and asked many questions 

 about the hats and coats the lumberjacks had worn, 

 when the pigeons fled from Pennsylvania. 



At our camp-fire that night, he confided to me his 

 great, secret behef ; that the pigeons would never re- 

 turn; that they had abdicated in favor of the Red- 

 birds— the Nightingales of America. That the Car- 

 dinal wears a high hat, as the men did; and red and 

 brown, and grey coats; and they sing sweetly, as did 

 the Swedish lady. Their flute-like notes are like the 

 ones Ole Bull once charmed the Oleona forest with, 

 on his violin. The scientists will shake their heads, 

 saying "Conjecture!" To me, it was a good example 

 of splendid imagination. 



