Back in the late 70s or early 80s NatGeo magazine ran a multi-part serial, which was itself an abridged version of a book by a guy who had walked across America, taking little odd jobs along the way to support himself and writing about his experiences.
I was probably about 10 or 12 when I read the story at the time, but one of the impressions that remains with me to this day was his encounter with an older gentleman somewhere in the midwest (Iowa or Nebraska?) who had survived the great depression by eating pigeons. After he got back on his feet, he made a point of going to a local park every day and feeding them. He had been doing so for some 30 or 40 years or so at the time of the article.
Nice story.
Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull! Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal - a very slight meal for eight men - of it. Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait......and the cycle continued.
With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued. (after 24 days at sea...)
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first lifesaving seagull. And he never stopped
saying, ‘Thank you.’ That’s why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of
gratitude.
(Max Lucado, In The Eye of the Storm, pp.221, 225-226)
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/r/rickenbacker.htm#.URcFDR00WSo
Sweetheart, the name of the phenomenal continental walker is Peter Jenkins. I have— or rather, I think I still have —all of his books. Garth might have sold a couple in the sale. Jenkins is a good storyteller, and I do remember the man who fed the pigeons! Time to count them... zzzzzzzzzz...