338 ANIMAL LIFE 



woodcock have deserted entirely many of their former 

 feeding grounds east of the Mississippi, and are scarce 

 everywhere. The wild turkey survive only in a few heavily 

 timbered regions in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, 

 and perhaps one or two other States. The prairie chicken, 

 once so numerous on the western plains, can not last much 

 beyond another decade, and the wild pigeon was thought 

 to be practically extinct in 1899, but a few scattered flocks 

 have since been discovered. The enormous numbers of 

 pigeons present in the Eastern States forty years ago is 

 clearly shown by Audubon's description of them as ob- 

 served in Kentucky. 



" Let us now inspect the places of nightly rendezvous. 

 . . . My first view of it was about a fortnight subsequent 



FIG. 381. The wild pigeon (Ec-topisteus migratorius). Photographed in the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. One sixth life size. 



to the period when they had made a choice of it. ... As 

 the period for their arrival approached, their foes anxiously 

 prepared to receive them. . . . The sun was lost to our 

 view, yet not a dozen had arrived. Everything was ready, 



