I02 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



the stuffing of a specimen shot in the Province of 

 Quebec. 



' ' This left nothing but a few captive birds. In 

 1878 the Cincinnati Zoological Society bought ten 

 pairs of Passenger Pigeons. These bred as long 

 as they lived, but their young, born in captivity, 

 were almost barren. At last only one pair sur- 

 vived and the male died in 1911. The female lived 

 until September 1, 191-4, when she, too, expired, at 

 the extreme old age of twenty-nine years. By her 

 death the species became extinct. Not only is 

 there not a single Passenger Pigeon left alive on 

 the globe, but there are only a few stuifed speci- 

 mens in all the museums of the world. ' ' 



He turned sharply to the old man. 



''That's the result of pot-hunting unprotected 

 by game laws, ' ' he said. ' ' Suppose there had been 

 a restriction on the shooting of Passenger Pigeons, 

 forbidding the young to be taken from the nests 

 and allowing a bag of only so many pigeons a day 

 during certain seasons, one of our best food birds 

 would have been saved and would have been a 

 part of the nation 's wealth forever. Tell me. Bull 

 Adam, do you think it right that the Passenger 

 Pigeon should have been wiped off the face of the 

 earth r^ 



