i8o The Passenger Pigeon 



A FLOCK OF WILD PIGEONS * 



West Park, N. Y., May nth. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have received evidence which is to me entirely con- 

 vincing that a large flock of Passenger Pigeons was seen 

 to pass over the village of Prattsville, Greene County, 

 this State, late one afternoon about the middle of April. 

 The fact was first reported in the local paper, the Pratts- 

 ville News. An old boyhood schoolmate of mine, 

 Charles W. Benton, was, with others, reported to have 

 seen them. I have corresponded with Mr. Benton and 

 have no doubt the pigeons were seen as stated. Mr. 

 Benton saw pigeons, clouds of them, in his boyhood, 

 and could not well be mistaken. He says it was about 

 5 o'clock, and that the flock stretched out across the 

 valley about one-half mile and must have contained 

 many hundreds. It came from the southeast, and went 

 northwest. Mr. Benton says that a large flock was re- 

 ported last year as having passed over the village of 

 Catskill, and that a wild pigeon was shot near Pratts- 

 ville last fall. A friend of mine saw two pigeons in the 

 woods at West Point a year or so ago. 



I have no doubt, therefore, that the wild pigeon is 

 still with us, and that if protected we may yet see them 

 in something like their numbers of thirty years ago. 



John Burroughs. 



* From Forest and Stream, May 19, 1906. 



