230 THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 



''The stomachs and crops of wild pigeons which I 

 examined, contained, as I now recall, buckwheat, 

 beechnuts, wheat, acorns, seeds of maple, buds of the 

 maple, also huckleberries, June berries, sassafras and 

 gum berries." — Philadelphia North American. 



Still Hope for the Wild Pigeon 



In a letter mailed at Alanson, Michigan, on the 

 9th instant, R. F. O'Reilly, of that town, again, sends 

 to the Union and Advertiser, a statement about the 

 wild pigeon that must be read with interest by the 

 many who, in spite of discouraging facts, have en- 

 tertained the hope that the bird was not totally extinct, 

 and that some of them would come to view\ On No- 

 vember 26th of last year, this paper contained a letter 

 from Mr. O'Reilly, in which he said that a flock of 

 wild pigeons had been frequenting his farm for three 

 years, that the birds numbered about twenty-five, and 

 that he was giving them every possible protection. 

 His response to a letter written this summer, asking 

 if the birds had returned, is as follows : 



"Dear Sir: Yours received some time ago and 

 have postponed answering it to see if I could get 

 something substantial, something to verify my claim, 

 but have not as yet. The flock is here again. I have 

 seen them twnce, and there are more than I thought last 

 year. I would put them at fifty anyway, but l)Oth times 

 they were flying higher than the trees and are not 

 feeding in this immediate vicinity. I had hoped to be 

 able to locate their nests and get some of tlie prize 



