News from John Burroughs 183 



the spring of 1905, the Catskill Recorder, a newspaper 

 published in this county, reported seeing a flock similar 

 to the one seen at Kingston. 



Wishing you success on your fishing trip, I am. 



Yours truly, 



C. W. Benton. 



THE SULLIVAN COUNTY PIGEONS 



West Park, N. Y., June 30th. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



Since I wrote you a few weeks ago, I have been look- 

 ing up the men who were reported to have seen wild 

 pigeons recently. I have seen six men who are positive 

 they have seen flocks of wild pigeons — some of them 

 two years ago, and some of them this past spring. As 

 these men were all past middle age and had been 

 familiar with the pigeon thirty and forty years ago and 

 were, moreover, men reported truthful and sober by 

 their neighbors, and who impressed me as being en- 

 tirely reliable, I feel bound to credit their several state- 

 ments. At De Bruce, Sullivan County, Mr. Cooper, 

 the postmaster and village blacksmith, said he had seen 

 a large flock of pigeons in the fall two years ago. They 

 were about a buckwheat field. He pointed out the hill 

 about which they were flying. Mr. Cooper had shot 

 and trapped a great many pigeons years ago, and was 

 sure he could not mistake any other bird for a pigeon. 

 A farmer, whose name I do not now remember and 



