The Last of the Pigeons 149 



sentatlve of a race which always loved the wild woods, 

 and, which I thought had passed away from Illinois 

 forever." 



Mr. R. W. Stafford of Chicago, 111., who has shot 

 hundreds of pigeons in former years within the present 

 city limits of Chicago, informs me that in the latter 

 part of September, 1894, while shooting at Marengo, 

 111., he saw a flock of six flying swiftly over and appa- 

 rently alight in a small grove some distance off. 



The above records will show that while in this sec- 

 tion of the country large flocks of Passenger Pigeons 

 are a thing of the past, yet they are still occasionally 

 observed in small detachments or single birds. 



A. B. Covert of Ann Arbor, Mich., wrote under date 

 of Oct. 27, 1894: "Prior to the spring of 1881 the 

 wild pigeon was everywhere a common bird of passage 

 throughout the southern part of Michigan and nested 

 commonly in the northern part. My home, in 1880, 

 and for a few years after, was at Cadillac, Mich., and 

 there was at that time a nesting place near Muskrat 

 Lake in Missaukee County. Thousands of the birds 

 were killed there. In the spring of 1881 the birds 

 failed to make their appearance, and since then have 

 been very rare. Nov. 23, 1892, I secured one male 

 and two young females ; these were killed in Scio, Wash- 

 tenaw County, Oct. 9, 1893; one male near Ypsilanti, 

 Mich., Sept. 27, 1894; one female killed at Honey 

 Brook, Scio, Washtenaw County. There is also a 



