In _Forest and Stream_ of Sept. 25, 1897, appeared a short notice of
"Wild Pigeons in Nebraska," by "W. F. R." Through the kindness of
the editor he placed me in correspondence with the observer, W. F.
Rightmire, to whom I am indebted for the following details given in
his letter of Nov. 5, 1897: "I was driving along the highway north of
Cook, Johnson County, Neb., on August 17, 1897. I came to the timber
skirting the head stream of the Nemaha River, a tract of some forty
acres of woodland lying along the course of the stream, upon both
banks of the same, and there feeding on the ground or perched upon the
trees were the Passenger Pigeons I wrote the note about. The flock
contained seventy-five to one hundred birds. I did not frighten them,
but as I drove along the road the feeding birds flew up and joined the
others, and as soon as I had passed by they returned to the ground and
continued feeding. While I revisited the same locality, I failed to
find the pigeons. I am a native of Tompkins County, N. Y., and have
often killed wild pigeons in their flights while a boy on the farm,
helped to net them, and have hunted them in Pennsylvania, so that I
readily knew the birds in question the moment I saw them." I will here
take occasion to state that in my record of the Missouri flock (_Auk_,
July, 1897, p. 316) the date on which they were seen (Dec. 17, 1896)
was, through error, omitted.
Ruthven Deane,
Chicago, Ill.
From "The Auk," January, 1896, under the title, "Additional Records
of the Passenger Pigeon (_Ectopistes migratorius_) in Wisconsin and
Illinois."
I am indebted to my friend, Mr. John L. Stockton, of Highland Park,
Ill., for information regarding the occurrence of this pigeon in
Wisconsin. While trout fishing on the Little Oconto River in the
Reservation of the Menominee Indians, Mr. Stockton saw, early in June,
1895, a flock of some ten pigeons for several consecutive days near his
camp. They were first seen while alighting near the bank of the river,
where they had evidently come to drink. I am very glad to say that they
were not molested.
Mr. John F. Ferry of Lake Forest, Ill., has kindly notified me of the
capture of a young female pigeon which was killed in that town on
August 7, 1895. The bird was brought to him by a boy who had shot it
with a rifle ball, and although in a mutilated condition he preserved
it for his collection.
I have recently received a letter from Dr. H. V. Ogden, Milwaukee,
Wis., informing me of the capture of a young female pigeon which
was shot by Dr. Ernest Copeland on the 1st of October, 1895. These
gentlemen were camping at the time in the northeast corner of Delta
County, Mich. (Northern Peninsula), in the large hardwood forest that
runs through that part of the State. They saw no other of the species.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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