134 
in the Northeastern part of the State; here 
he saw small flocks of 5 and 6 and a 
dozen flying about in a bewildered sort of 
manner. He spoke of his business, and 
inquired what was the matter with the 
pigeons. Two newly arrived Adiron- 
dack hunters told him that they had been 
up on the mountains called “The 
Two Indians,” and when coming down 
had seen at a distance several acres of 
ground which had a strange appearance. 
There was at the time 14 inches’of snow 
on the ground, softening from a thaw. On 
reaching the place they found, as Mr. 
Blodgett puts it, millions of dozens of 
dead pigeons, the sleet having frozen in 
bunches on their tails in their flight, 
weighing them down so they fell and 
died. 
These men say they walked a dis- 
tance of 3 miles over the dead bodies of 
millions of these birds, and investigation 
proves the truth of their statement. 
Mr. Blodgett is a first-class citizen, a_ 
man of veracity, and knows as much 
about pigeons as any man in the country. 
This explains a great deal of the mys- 
tery surrounding the disappearance of the 
birds in this section. 
You know almost immediately after the 
pigeons come here in spring they com- 
mence to nest. A pigeon will build a nest 
in 3 hours and lay one egg in it, and in 
4 weeks will move away and leave the 
young to shift for themselves. They 
were nesting at Byetown when the cold 
weather and the phenomenal fall of 14 
inchés of snow caught them. Men who 
were in the woods could reach up into 
the low scrub timber and from their load- 
ed sleighs take off their nests hun- 
dreds of the birds frozen to death. Those 
of course were all old birds, none of the 
eggs being yet hatched. 
I will cheerfully answer any questions 
which your readers may ask regarding 
the matter. 
We are prepared to make it interesting 
here for any of the swine who may be- 
come too’ previous the coming season and 
we all join in commending you for your 
good work in so good a cause. 
F. Everett Hall. 

MORE PIGEON ENGLISH. 
Delavan, Wis. 
Editor RECREATION: 
There have been handed me, with the 
request that I answer, 2 letters addressed 
by you to the postmaster and the editor 
of the Republican, this city, regarding 
recent occurrence of the passenger pig- 
eon in this vicinity. This bird is without 
doubt still much commoner than many 
avan Republican. 
RECREATION. | , 
people suppose, though occurring only 
in small scattered bunches, isolated pairs 
and single individuals. 
Some of the newspaper reports regard- 
ing the total extinction, and then again 
the abundance of the bird in some 
distant land or out-of-the-way section 
of this country are ridiculous. I have 
long ago ceased to give attention to. 
any item of the occurrence of Ectopistes 
migratorius that I see in local or city 
papers, or even the average sportsmen’s 
journal. 
Of this, however, I am positive: The 
passenger pigeon now occurs regularly 
in Southeastern Wisconsin every year in 
small numbers, and doubtless does in 
other parts of its former range. It is 
seen in this and adjoining counties al- 
most every summer and a beautiful young 
male, killed within 3 miles of Delavan, on 
September 8, 1896, is now in my collec- 
tion. 
The species is in no present danger of 
total extinction. In fact, there are sever- 
al forms of North American birds that 
will perhaps be extinct before the wild 
pigeon is. Neither is it likely that we 
shall ever again see those flocks that were 
formerly common. As regards the notice 
you ask about, that appeared in the Del- 
I have no doubt it is 
true. I talked with Mr. P. O’Donnell, of 
Millard, Wis., and he says he positively 
saw the flock numbering from 100 to 200 
birds. They lit and flew away again. He 
was close to them and is sure he was not 
mistaken. He is a reliable man and is fa- 
miliar with the game birds of this region. 
N. Hollister. 

For several years I have seen isolated 
pairs of wild pigeons at different times, 
near my farm at Lime Ridge, but would 
not shoot them, although I could easily 
have done so. I know the large flock 
was seen by Wm. Brenizer, the postmas- 
ter at Lime Ridge, and several other men. 
I have known Mr. B. intimately for 25 
years and you can rely on what he says. 
George J. Seamans, Reedsburg, Wis. 
I have written this postmaster at Lime 
Ridge but have not heard from him yet. 
Murat, Amherst, Wis. 

I saw 5 passenger pigeons May 28, ’99 
in the vicinity of Lake Emily. They flew 
Northeast. 
F. J. Thomas, Amherst, Wis. 

I saw a flock of about 100 passenger 
pigeons in April last. They flew low— 
just escaping the roof of my house. My 
boy followed them into the woods where 
they alighted, and flushed them, but it 

