176 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



ticable, it is very desirable that national legislation should 

 be adopted, if within the authority of Congress. 



We wall await with interest the opinion of the attorney- 

 general upon this proposition. 



The last pigeon roost that we have any account of was 

 in the Indian territory, and now it is a debatable question 

 as to whether or not these beautiful birds are wholly ex- 

 tinct. An occasional report conies from Michigan, New 

 York, and Mexico, that some of them have been seen, but 

 the number is always small and the accuracy of the re- 

 ports in doubt. The millions of these birds, which once 

 darkened the air, have disappeared. It is to be hoped 

 that the reports of a few small remaining flocks may 

 prove to be true. 



Only about 1,000 buffalo still remain on the planet. The 

 new government herd in the Yellowstone has increased 

 from twenty-one to about fifty-six, showing the possibility 

 of the restoration of these animals in the forest reserves. 



A new buffalo herd for the Wichita Reserve has been 

 provided for and there should be five or six more small 

 herds started in different forest reserves so as to insure 

 the continuation of this finest of all the North American 

 mammals. 



The journalists of the country have intelligently and 

 earnestly taken up the subject of game and bird preserva- 

 tion and an enlightened public sentiment on this question 

 will make the enforcement of the law comparatively easy. 



A few years ago it was sure death for a deer or ante- 

 lope to pass out of the Yellowstone Park into the vicinity 

 of the town of Gardiner. 



Now you may see photographs of 1,400 antelope feed- 

 ing undisturbed in an alfalfa pasture at the very edge of 

 the town. 



They are regarded as one of the town's attractions and 

 woe be to the man who raises his hand against them. 



