CHAPTER XV 

 News from John Burroughs 



WHEN the following report from so high an 

 authority as John Burroughs appeared in 

 Forest and Stream it seemed too important 

 to be overlooked. I therefore ventured to open a 

 correspondence with this famous naturalist, even sug- 

 gesting that his informants might have mistaken some 

 other species of migratory bird for a flight of wild 

 pigeons. I had once made a similar mistake in Texas 

 when the northern migration of the curlews was in full 

 flight. Countless flocks of them were streaming past at 

 a considerable distance from me, and I could have sworn 

 they were wild pigeons until I was lucky enough to see 

 them at much closer range. Even now the newspapers 

 east and west contain an annual crop of wild pigeon 

 reports, most of which are to be found fake reports 

 upon careful investigation. It has happened often that 

 hunters and woodsmen mistake the wild dove for the 

 pigeon, and refuse to believe otherwise. The corre- 

 spondence explains itself, however, and Is a valuable 

 contribution to the subject in hand. 



W. B. M. 

 179 



