50 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



resting places. At their resorts where they bred they were merci- 

 lessly slain and fed to the droves of swine gathered there for 

 that purpose. By 1855 they had disappeared from that part 

 of the country. It is not unlikely that the species is now ex- 

 tinct. Although fond of climbing, I did not get into the habit 

 of bird-nesting. From this boy's vice I was debarred by a keen 

 sense of personal relation with the creatures. I had my satis- 

 faction in watching their building work and in this followed 

 through the construction of the orioles, swallows, and some other 

 species. Naturally, I found my way to mating pigeons, and 

 thence to the other domestic fowls. At this period, much of 

 my time was spent on various farms, particularly on a place of 

 about three hundred acres, two miles from the Ohio River, now 

 the town of Southgate. There were extensive barnyards with 

 numerous and varied fowl. I had at one time near a thousand 

 pigeons, along with cocks and hens, geese, ducks of several 

 species, and several varieties of turkeys. My love for these 

 creatures became very great, but it gradually reverted to a 

 fancy for game-cocks. This was caused by the fact that near-by 

 was a farm altogether devoted to rearing male birds of this ad- 

 mirable breed for the West Indian markets, some thousand 

 each year being sent on their way to distant adventures. It was 

 a sight and sound I well remember, the passing of a huge wagon 

 with a frame like a hay-rick, on which were hung hundreds of 

 little basket coops, each holding a bird and with a little open- 

 ing through which he could stretch his neck for the needed ex- 

 ercise of crowing. As the van crept down the way to the steam- 

 boat landing, it was to the noise of the united challenges of all 

 the valiant cargo, a curious strident note that could be heard 

 from a mile away. 



For a time I was much interested in the battles of game- 

 cocks. I never fought them with "gaffs," those detestable con- 

 trivances of steel shaped like lancets, which fit the cruel notion 

 of Spaniards; in fact, I always blunted the spurs so that they 

 could not give a deadly blow. What charmed me was the valor 



