While Silliman did publish letters and even articles by accomplished amateurs in the American Journal of Science, he clearly preferred that Hitchcock be the one to be the first to write about the "bird tracks." Still, he recognized that he had heard of the phenomenon first through Dr. Deane, giving Deane a potential claim to priority.
"I am much gratified that you are seriously at work upon the turkey tracks, or bird tracks of whatever kind they may be & you may rest assured that I shall publish nothing upon the subject until I receive it from you. I will therefore expect you to do justice to Dr. Deane as you are perfectly acquainted with the circumstances & if you see Dr. Deane I will thank you to intimate to him what I have just said. My impressions are so strong in favor of the genuineness of the discovery—judging only from the imperfect copy I have in plaster—that I feel increasingly desirous to have the matter investigated & I do not know in whose hands it can be better placed."