7. Mathew 1–3.
8. See Powell.
9. A. Wilson 399.
10. Ibid., 400.
11. J. J. Audubon 322.
12. Ibid., 320–21.
13. M. Audubon 200–03. She presents both what Audubon wrote of Wilson and the exact quote of what Wilson wrote about Audubon.
14. Elsa Guerdrum Allen wrote, “Wilson’s greater exactness, his patient method and his lucid and honest descriptions mark him unquestionably as the better ornithologist.” As for the feud, Schorger (in Scott 12) commented, “Audubon did not relish another star in the ornithological firmament and his treatment of Wilson does not rebound to his credit.”
15. Wallace Craig, who studied the only flock subjected to scientific scrutiny, found Audubon’s account so full of errors he spent the last page of his paper criticizing it in detail.
16. French 162–63.
17. Mershon 49.
18. Nevins 181–82.
19. Raper.
20. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
21. Newspapers in Schapper 102; “very abundant” in Nelson 120; 1881 in Butler (1898) 763.
22. South Shore Country Club Magazine 34.
23. Eenigenburg 12–14.
24. McKenney 352–53.
25. F. 149–50.
26. Wharton 1–2.
27. Dodson clippings.
28. Stratton-Porter 196–98.
29. Franklin xxxviii–xxiv.
30. Robinson 568.
31. Cooper chapter 22.
32. Winter online 1–7.
33. Clarke 266–76.
34. Upton 1–4.
35. Ibid., 21, 50.
36. Ibid., 105.
37. Hewitt 82–85.
38. Upton 231–32.
39. Ibid., 231.
40. Ward.
41. Lake Shore Museum Center archives.
42. Ward. Also see Holland, Michigan, Evening Sentinel.
43. Ward; Muskegon Chronicle 1937.
44. Muskegon Chronicle 1951.
CHAPTER 4: PIGEONS AS PROVISIONS TO
PIGEONS AS PRODUCTS
1. Biggar 332.
2. Powers 105–11.
3. Mitchell 21, 106.
4. Wright (1911) 356.
5. 1759: Wright (1911) 435; A. Wilson 401.
6. Bourne 563–64.
7. Boston and Granby: Judd 351–52; Schorger (1955) 131; Benwell 72–75.
8. French 177.
9. DeVoe 175–76.
10. Ibid., 172–73; Byrd: Wright (1911) 432.
11. M’Neill in G. Wilson 14:570; E. Wilson (1934) 164.
12. Mitchell 21.
13. Madison: Hamel 18; Chicago: Home Guide.
14. Nessmuk 106; 1770s in Wright (1911) 350; Althouse in Mitchell 107.
15. Roasted pigeons in Faux 22; Belknap 137–38; Illinois in French 184.
16. L. Thomas 105–110.
17. Ibid., 93–95, 98–101.
18. Soap in French 206; Coudersport in Thompson 14.
19. Saint-Jérôme in Schorger (1955) 132; Ontario in Mitchell 108; McKnight in Schorger (1955) 132.
20. Brickell 186; Native healer in Larocque 49.
21. A. Wilson 399; British ornithologist in Schorger (1955) 52; West Virginia in Brown 176.
22. Jesuit and La Hontan in Mitchell 16.
23. Prairie Farmer 83.
24. Michigan in Cass County Republican 3; Pennsylvania in Rupp 131; Eden, Wisconsin, in Fond du Lac Reporter; Iowa in Bond 525.
25. Goss in Roberts 586.
26. Kalm 63; Van Campen in Armstrong 10.
27. Massicotte 77.
28. Wisconsin in F. E. Jones; Hine 327; Minnesota in Swanson 116–17.
29. Schorger (1955) 53.
30. Jasper County in Galveston Daily News (1875) 2; Ibid., (1881) 3; Leon County in Casto 13.
31. Wright (1910) 431.
32. Quebec in Mitchell 62; Hussey 5.
33. Cook in Mershon 167–68.
34. Texas in Casto 14; Ontario in Mitchell 109–12.
35. Mitchell 109–12.
36. MacKay 262.
37. R.
38. Harpel 205.
39. During 1850s in Answers.com 2–4; Wisconsin in Price 19; as early as 1842 in Schorger (1955) 144–45.
40. French 177; Grant County Herald.
41. 1842 in French 98; 1880: ibid., 103.
42. Mershon 124–25.
43. Roney 346; Allen brothers in Mershon 125.
44. McKinley 407.
45. Pennsylvania in Mershon 126; Phillips: ibid., 109.
46. French 213–15.
47. Original receipt in possession of Milwaukee Public Museum. They provided me with a copy.
48. Forbush (1913) 99.
49. Armstrong 4; Bennett in Traverse 1411.
50. Price 35–36.
51. Merritt 27–31, 109.
52. St. Paul in Swanson 63; Merritt 111.
53. Merritt 113.
54. Ibid., 184–85
55. BMR 395–96.
56. Coale (1922a) 255.
57. C. L. Mann 45–47.
58. Forbush (1913) 99–103.
CHAPTER 5: MEANS OF DESTRUCTION
1. Schorger (1955) 167–68.
2. Wright (1911) 436.
3. Tennessee in Wright (1911) 443; Texas in Casto.
4. St. Lawrence River in Wright (1910) 430; St. Paul in Swanson 133; Orillia, Ontario, in Mitchell 129.
5. Stone 488.
6. Trautman 271.
7. Mitchell 120–21.
8. Hussey 5.
9. Twain 114.
10. Grant 42–43.
11. Mitchell 120.
12. Schorger (1955) 196–97. According to the New England Weekly Journal of April 8, 1740, a mill near Philadelphia “took fire and burned to the ground” likely due to “the Wadding of Guns fired at Wild Pidgeons.”
13. St. Paul in Swanson; Cabot in Brewster (1906) 176.
14. Swivels in Randolph 95; Mather in Schorger (1938) 473; 1662 in Wright (1910) 430; 99 birds in Mitchell 122.
15. Mitchell 119.
16. Kalm 66; New York in Milwaukee Sentinel; 1860 in French 48–49.
17. Wright (1911) 350.
18. Webber 305–08.
19. Sage 69–70.
20. Mitchell 123.
21. “Snap Shot” 194.
22. New England Weekly Journal, April 8, 1740, 2.
23. Schorger interview with Victor Blasezyk, May 31, 1936. All of the shooting incidents recorded here from Wisconsin appear in newspaper clippings collected by Schorger and placed in his Passenger Pigeon Notebooks (two volumes of “Pigeons: Wisconsin Newspapers”), located at the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
24. Ray.
25. Randolph 95–96.
26. 1870s in Trautman 270; lured into pens in Brewster (1889) 289; stuffed pigeons in Wright (1911) 352.
27. Ontario examples in Mitchell 128–29; Mather in Schorger (1938) 473.
28. Armstrong 5.
29. Early in the season in Mershon 108; pigeon baskets in Antique, cover and Baillie notes.
30. Yarnell in Deane (1931) 264–65; Ontario in Mitchell 124; linen in Rupp 133.
31. Typical rig in French 195. See Snyder 10–13, Lincoln, Mitchell 124–27, and Rupp 133–35.
32. French 227.
33. White River in Mershon 109; Benzie County in Maynard 241–42.
34. F.E.S. 50.
35. Sibley 414.
36. Finer grain in Rupp 134; Wisconsin in Milwaukee Journal (1929); angleworms in Barrows 242.
37. Garber 28.
38. Fancy model in W. W. Thompson 15. See Lincoln, Paxson 376–77, and Scherer 40.
39. Found suitable birds in Paxson 378; “John (X)” 299; $5 to $10 in Rupp 133; began his exercise in W. W. Thompson 13.
40. John (X) 299; Scherer 40.
41. W. W. Thompson 16–17.
42. Rupp 132.
43. Beekmantown in R.; Osborne in Mershon 127
; Michigan: ibid., 109; Dr. Voorheis in Barrows 245.
44. French 153, 210.
45. Scherer 42; French 177.
46. French 102.
CHAPTER 6: PROFILES IN KILLING
1. St. Joseph Traveler.
2. Competition for fun in Leffingwell 133; ecological context in Price 33. The shooting matches were not without risk, however. On one occasion contestant Hiram Neiswinter missed his pigeon and struck rival Robert Parker instead. “The top of Parker’s head was blown off and his brains was [sic] scattered all around.” (The Carbon Advocate [Leighton, PA], August 19, 1882, 51.)
3. Field shooting in Leffingwell 135; one set of skills in Swanson 258; “character, coolness” in Price 29.
4. E. Thomas 369.
5. Leffingwell 139.
6. E. Thomas 369.
7. Leffingwell 42, 143.
8. Ibid., 136.
9. Rosenthal in Schorger (1955) 160. See Swanson 259, Mitchell 115, and Steele 220.
10. Ontario in Mitchell 117; April-through-September in E. Thomas 372; Forest and Stream in De L. 233.
11. Casto 16.
12. Galveston Daily News (1884) 2.
13. Swanson 258–60.
14. Kennicott Club in Chicago Tribune (August 17, 1872) 6; “grand tournament”: ibid., (September 30, 1877) 7; Peoria in Schorger (1955) 163.
15. E. Thomas 371–72.
16. Greenberg 358–59.
17. Bogardus 300.
18. Ibid., 301–02.
19. Ibid., 302–03.
20. Chicago Tribune (September 27, 1872) 6
21. Ibid., (May 2, 1880) 3.
22. Bogardus 302–03.
23. Schorger (1955) 163.
24. Price 33.
25. Steele 3.
26. Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography.
27. Steele 143, 150.
28. Ibid., 220.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid., 233.
31. Ibid.
32. New York Times (June 21, 1881) 5; New York Times (June 22, 1881) 2.
33. New York Times (June 22, 1881) 2.
34. E. Thomas 372.
35. Czech 26.
36. Joyce 10–15.
37. Wilson, “Kin-ne-quay,” 1.
38. Ibid., 2.
39. Ibid., 3–4.
40. The remainder of this section on Wilson is based on Wilson (1934) and Wilson (1935). This latter note includes the discussion of Partie.
41. “G. D. Smith Succumbs.”
42. This section is based on George D. Smith’s unpublished memoir, 1–6. See also Rumer.
43. John French’s book, in two intriguing sentences that include no further elaboration, also touched on the social aspects of pigeon hunting, but the glimpses provided are decidedly dark and foul. The first is from his pen and appears on page 20: “There are camp-fire stories galore of the carnivals of the slaughter and the orgies of the feasts, when the day’s work was finished, that are better buried in the oblivion of silence.” And the second is from his publisher and editor, Henry Shoemaker, which appears on page 173: “Added to the horrors of squab hunting and killing were orgies of drunkenness that made the scenes in the nesting grounds too hideous to recount.” One can only imagine.
44. Chatfield Democrat (May 13, 1865), (June 3, 1865).
45. Swanson 144–45.
CHAPTER 7: THE TEMPEST WAS SPENT:
THE LAST GREAT NESTINGS
1. Mitchell 109–11. This discussion was substantially aided by the input of the following Ontario experts: Glenn Coady, Nicholas Escott, Michel Gosselin, George K. Peck, and Mark Peck.
2. Fox 102–03.
3. Scherer 38–39.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., 41.
6. Ibid.
7. Schorger (1937) 1.
8. Ibid., 4–6.
9. Ibid., 19–20.
10. Kilbourn City Mirror (April 22, 1871).
11. Six hundred in Mershon 117–18; one hundred thousand in Fond du Lac Commonwealth; sixteen in Schorger (1937) 17–18; icehouse in Mershon 113.
12. H. Kelly.
13. Kilbourn City Mirror (May 13, 1871).
14. This paragraph and the next three are from Fond du Lac Commonwealth.
15. Schorger (1937) 12–13.
16. Ibid., 13–14.
17. Roberts 583.
18. Swanson 70.
19. Howland 1976.
20. Hartwick and Tuller 80–81.
21. Ibid., 81.
22. “Tom Tramp”149.
23. Mershon 106–09; Hartwick and Tuller 81.
24. Michigan Tradesman.
25. Souter: ibid; one estimate in Hartwick and Tuller 81.
26. Martin (1914) 478–81.
27. Hartwick and Tuller 81.
28. This and the next two paragraphs from Fenton and Deardorff 314–15.
29. Forty miles in length in Roney 345; “trollops” in Sharkey 6.
30. Charlevoix Sentinel (March 12 and 25, 1878).
31. Timber operators in Northern Tribune (March 9, 1878) Bemis in Charlevoix Sentinel (April 19, 1878).
32. Emmet County Democrat (March 29, 1878).
33. Petoskey: ibid. (April 5 and 12, 1878); Cheboygan in Northern Tribune (April 13, 1878).
34. Charles.
35. Bennet in Sharkey 13; Old Joe in Hedrick 54–55.
36. Peterson 48–49.
37. Laws of Michigan 149–50.
38. Roney 345–49.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Numerous observers in Lawrence and Henkel 25; dismissal of all charges in Emmet County Democrat (May 3 1878), Charlevoix Sentinel (April 26, 1878), and Turner 401–2.
48. Emmet County Democrat (April 19, 1878); Sharkey 8.
49. Sharkey 9.
50. Roney 346; Martin (1879) 385–86; another pigeon merchant in Mershon 93.
51. Potter Journal (April 15, May 13, and June 10, 1880).
52. Detroit Post and Tribune 1.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid.
56. Barrows 215.
57. Mershon 56.
58. Ibid., 56–57.
59. Littlefield 154–59.
60. Chicago Field 314–15. The Atoka account is based on this article.
61. Files of Potter Journal; Thompson 6.
62. Scott 14.
63. Dixon.
64. Adams County in Baraboo Republic; hired two hundred in Daily Data.
65. Scott 15–16; Daily Data.
66. Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin; Schorger (1955) 217.
CHAPTER 8: FLIGHTS TO THE FINISH
1. Casto 10.
2. McKinley 410. Daniel McKinley, through his painstaking study of Missouri’s newspapers and other historical documents, is responsible for much of what is known about the bird in that state.
3. Ibid, 411.
4. W. W. Thompson 6.
5. Oconto River and Racine in Schorger (1955) 218; Oviatt in Scherer 30.
6. French 87.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., 87–88.
9. Ibid., 59–60.
10. 1869 in Blockstein and Tordoff; Griscom 212–16. Accounts of passenger pigeons abandoning young before they were fledged go back a long ways. It seems likely that this was in response to human disturbance, although it was not recognized as such. But starting in the late 1860s, the propensity to leave a nesting site early in the face of disturbance seems to have increased, perhaps in part because it was more discernible among smaller concentrations of birds.
11. Blossburg in French 61; Bailey in Roberts 584; Missouri in McKinley 411.
12. Wisconsin in Schorger (1955) 219; Pope in Casto 6; W. Cook 248.
13. Brewster 285–86. A small nesting of several hundred birds was reported from West Virginia in 1889.
14. Missouri in McKinley 412
; Arkansas in Hough (1892) 138.
15. Norfolk in GH 79; Clinton County in Todd 271; winter 1892–93 in Forbush (1913) 76; New York City in Fleming (1907) 236–37.
16. Virginia in Stanstead 403; Iowa in Anderson 239; New Jersey in W. Stone 154; Tennessee in Schorger (1955) 292.
17. Clark 44.
18. Ibid.; Woodruff 88.
19. Indiana in Butler (1898) 763–64; Wisconsin in Schorger (1955) 221; Massachusetts and North Carolina in Forbush (1927) 75.
20. Schorger (1955) 286. If someone had been fortunate enough to have seen a passenger pigeon in the late 1890s, or even worse the early 1900s, he would have had to choose between killing a bird whose very existence was imperiled or have his sighting rejected. Of course the death of a single individual is not likely to cause extinction, although if all the “single individuals” are aggregated, the issue might become a bit blurred with some species, but the rarity of the target ought to weigh on the consciousness of a potential collector. And one could argue that the life of an endangered bird is more important, anyway, than getting credit for seeing something exceedingly scarce. It is also true, though, that just as the loss of an individual won’t determine the fate of a species, especially one such as the passenger pigeon, science doesn’t gain much either in determining whether the pigeon became extinct in the wild in 1900 or 1902 or 1906. But this exercise in historical sleuthing is compelling nonetheless, for it is worthwhile trying to make sure that the end of a great and tragic story is as accurate as possible.
21. Miller and Griscom 130.
22. Mandeville in Forbush (1927) 75; Wisconsin in Schorger (1955) 220; Michigan and Illinois in Deane (1896a).
23. Nebraska in Deane (1896a) 81 and Bruner 84; North Western in Johnson; Clinton in Eaton 385; Ontario in Fleming (1907) 236–37; West Virginia in Buckelew; Jones in Roberts.
24. Shannon in Butler (1898) 764; Texas in Simmons 86; Ontario in Fleming (1903) 66; New Jersey in Chapman 341; Maine in Palmer 299; Wisconsin in Hollister 341; Iowa in Widmann 85 and Anderson 239; Pennsylvania in Paxson 372 and Schorger (1955) 291.
25. Louisiana in McIlhenny 546; Missouri and Pokagon in Deane (1897) 316–17.
26. Neither of these records have previously been published, and I appreciate the assistance of Steve Sullivan at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Jeremiah Trimble of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
27. Mitchell 137; Jeremiah Trimble, personal communication.
28. Osprey 12; November in Beckner 55–56.
29. Hough (1899) 88; Schorger (1955) 208.
30. Fleming 66; Moody 81.
31. J. Wood 208; N. Wood 225.
A Feathered River Across the Sky Page 32
