Recollections of "Old Timers" 123 



It would be hard to make any estimate of their num- 

 bers that people would believe at this late day. I was 

 going to say that a thousand million could have been 

 seen in the air all at once. There would be days and 

 days when the air was alive with them, hardly a break 

 occurring in a flock for half a day at a time. Flocks 

 stretched as far as a person could see, one tier above 

 another. I think it would be safe to say that millions 

 could have been seen at the same time. 



In the year 1854 we moved to Michigan, settling 

 near Adrian, where we found pigeons quite plentiful. 

 When they were flying here (Adrian) they seemed to 

 scatter over the State, having no regular course. 



The supply of pigeons kept very regular here for 

 about twenty-five or thirty years. About the time we 

 came west the pigeons became scarce in New York, 

 and very few have been seen there since. It is five 

 years (1890) since we have seen or heard of any being 

 seen in this State (Michigan) or in any other. 



Our "pigeoning" was more for sport than profit, 

 and we liked a nice broiled pigeon for breakfast about 

 as well as anything we could have, especially when they 

 were worth $6.00 per dozen. If the pigeons had been 

 sent to the New York market they could have been sold 

 for big prices, as pigeons sold for larger and better 

 prices than any other game in that market. Our father 

 did not like the idea of sending pigeons to New York 

 for a market. 



