THE PASSENGER PIGEON 



{eCTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS) 



iy/rORE than ordinary interest attaches to the 

 present species, for it is one that has been 

 captured on several occasions in the British 

 Islands. Of such an interesting and once so 

 abundant bird it is hard to write, that its ex- 

 termination has progressed so rapidly within the 

 past quarter of a century, that its complete 

 extinction may be looked for during the next 

 decade. Formerly abundantly distributed over 

 the Northern States and Canada, up to near the 

 Arctic Circle, the Passenger Pigeon is now locally 

 dispersed through the deciduous forest areas of 

 Eastern North America — Northern Maine as 

 far west as Northern Minnesota, and Canada up 

 to the shores of Hudson Bay. The rapid decrease 

 of the Passenger Pigeon must be attributed to 

 the direct persecution of civilised man. For 

 more than two hundred years the bird has been 



