The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-16
Wild Pigeons Fascinated
Carolinians OF The Past
Nv THE REV. d J.
HOWELL

Author of the Book of Wilmington.
Iawwon's History of North Caro-
lima published in 171S, (Which is
loolIv an account of his travels in
tte virgin country and his obser
''ations of the Indian inhabitants)
informs us about many interesting
.s;ros In the book there is such a
s+arietv of subjects that it is hard
" opneralize or classify them; but,
~; w looking over it, n is very apt
~ fall upon some item that at once
orrpsts his attention. He a dis
oover what the Indians ate, what
their attitude was toward the new
.oning white explorers and set
.lors. where their villages or COM
nmInities we're, and a great deal
mont the wild life of animals and
s;rds that made the land a fasci-
rating place for those who first saw
There is, for instance, an item
made on a certain day when the
w~riter's attention was directed to
tbe multitudinous droves of pas
songer. or wildpigeons which
warmed t h e country. His recital
would stir the interest of any one
ubo might dream of a land where
birds and animals abounded and
where hunting and shooting was
syciting to the highest degree. 1t
was in the Sapona country, or
upper regions of the Cape Fear.
sanona was the Indian name of the
river.
One of Lawson's party had gone
with Sapona Indian to bring
some horses which had been left
behind. In the meantime," he
wrote, we went to shoot pigeons,
which were so numerous in these
parts. tina. you might see many
millions in a flock; they some
times split off the limbs of stout
Oaks, and other trees, upon which
they roost O. nights. You may find
several Indian towns, of not above
n houses, that have more than 100
gallons of pigeons oil, Or fat: they
using it with pulse, or bread, as
we do butter, evidently something
here is omitted and making the
ground as white as a sheet with
their dung. The Indians take a
light. and 90 among them in the
night, and bring away some thou
saAus. killing them with long
poles, as they roost in the trees. AT
this time of the year, the flocks, as
they pass by, in great measure,
obstruct the light of the day"
One may imagine the keen ex-
element of the explorers as they
encountered these immense flocks
Of pigeons. The story about them is
impelling. The primitive instincts
Of man would now be equally
aroused by certain phenomena in
life and nature as then. To be in
the presence of the vast numbers
Of the wild birds would make any
one set about to kill and gather as
many as possible. One might now
hesitate to shoot any single bird,
Or a small discernible number
which he might encounter, but the
urge to set upon such large
numbers as of the passenger
pigeons of early days would be
almost irresistible. In such circum-
stances any man would feel like
becoming a great hunter or a free
man of field and forest.
Thus, h e passenger pigeons Of
former days r always a subjec'
Of unfailing interest. There is
something that seems so unreal in
what one reads about them that one
has to force himself into a pictur-
ed scene which he knows from in
diSput8ble evidence t O have been
absolutely true.
The birds are now probably
extinct. The oldest known member
OF his tribe, the last surviving one
o1 MS species, died in a cage in
the geological gardens of Cincinnati
ONO, on September /, 1914. He was
The vanishing point of a feathery
cloud that actu5lly blackened the
heavens in the days of our fathers.
YET there has been published a
conjecture that the passenger pig
cons might have emlgrateo 10 the
western mountainous regions of
south America. This calls for con-
firmation.
10 a lover of wild life, there
lore, there is no more captivating
SUBJECT than the wild pigeons Of
America. There are men and
women living today who can recall
What their parents told them about