What Became of the Wild Pigeon? 167 



and a roar, and the very atmosphere seemed to be alive 

 with flying, chattering birds. The old tin lantern was 

 lighted. The horse pistol was hunted for, as it had 

 recoiled with such force I had lost hold of it. The 

 gun being found, we then approached as nearly as we 

 could the place where I had shot at the stack. From 

 this discharge we picked up eighteen pigeons and saw 

 some hobbling away into thick brush, from which we 

 could not recover them. After an hour of this kind 

 of hunting our bag was full of pigeons, and our tallow 

 candle in the lantern nearly consumed. We retraced 

 our steps out of the swamp, and about 1 1 o'clock at 

 night arrived home well satisfied with the night's hunt 

 in the pigeon roost. We had had acres of enjoyment 

 and had brought home bushels of pigeons. 



This is only to give an idea of what pigeons were in 

 northern Ohio in the days of my boyhood. This was in 

 the years of 1844 to 1846. In 1854, having grown to 

 man's estate, I moved to Michigan and settled in Cass 

 County, where I built a log house and began clearing 

 up a farm. After having cleared three or four fields 

 around my house, one morning one of my girls came 

 running in from out of doors and said: "Pa, come 

 out and see the pigeons." 



I went to the door and saw scooting across my fields, 

 as it seemed skimming the surface of the earth, flock 

 after flock of the birds, one coming close upon the heels 

 of another. I hastened into the house and grasped my 



