Destruction by Man 51 



Several attempts were made to save the 

 passenger pigeons by rearing flocks of them in 

 confinement, but these attempts served only to 

 postpone for a few years the absolute extinction 

 of the bird. A flock was established at Woods 

 Hole, Massachusetts, for a time by Professor C. 

 O. Whitman of Chicago University, and another 

 occupied a large cage in the Cincinnati Zo- 

 ological Park, where I have several times visited 

 what is believed to have been the last survivor 

 of its race. This bird, a female, was in cap- 

 tivity for more than a quarter of a century 

 and died only recently. 



The Esquimau curlew is now believed to be 

 extinct or nearly so, and again the selfishness of 

 man is to blame. This curlew was, as its other 

 common name, dough bird, implies, a delicious 

 table fowl, and its demand for the market was 

 the chief cause of its extermination. 



Though its actual numbers were probably 

 never so large as those of the passenger pigeon, 

 they must have been very great. Dense flocks 

 of these birds said to contain millions were often 

 reported at points along the Atlantic coast 

 during the earlier half of last century, and an 

 immense flight in Labrador in 1833 actually 

 reminded Audubon of the passenger pigeon 

 itself. 



