248 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



As to the cause or causes of the disappearance of the I'assenger Pigeon 

 tlie greatest diversity of opinion exists. Most naturaUsts agree that man's 

 warfare upon the bird on its nesting grounds has l)een the prime cause of 

 its extinction; but tliere are not wanting tliose wlio refuse to admit this, 

 and it seems perfectly certain that other causes must have combined to 

 effect the complete extermination. Some believe that the development of 

 some unknown but deadly parasite was responsible for the death of the Pigeon 

 host, and it is pointed out that the gregarious nature of the birds would 

 favor the increase and spread of such a parasite, which might naturally 

 })ass thi'ough a cycle which would culminate in the practical extermination 

 of the Pigeon. There is, however, not a particle of direct evidence to 

 support this theory. A similar theory ascribes the sudden disappearance 

 to some unknown disease. 



The fact that during sudden and heavy storms, and particularly during 

 foggy weather and snow storms, hundreds and perhaps thousands of 

 l)igeons have been drowned in the waters of the Great Lakes gives color 

 to the supposition that the last remaining bands of pigeons may possibly 

 iuxve perished in this way. Unquestionably the clearing away of the great 

 pine and hardwood forests of the north has been very largely responsible 

 for the rapid decrease, since this removed their principal food supply of 

 beech nuts, acorns and the seeds of various conifers, and these areas, recently 

 cleared by the lumberman's axe, were almost invariably devastated soon 

 after by fire, which in some cases swept over entire counties and left 

 hundreds of square miles a barren wilderness. 



In the opinion of the writer the most probable cause of the disappearance 

 of the pigeon lies in the fact that, through this clearing of the forests and the 

 increasing persecution by man, the birds were driven from one place to 

 another and gradually compelled to nest farther and farther to the north, 

 and under conditions successively less and less favorable, so that eventually 

 the larger part of the great flocks consisted of old birds, which, through 

 stress of weather and persecution, abandoned their nesting places and 

 failed to rear any considerable number of young. Under such conditions 

 they would naturally become weaker, or at least less resistant, each year, 

 and in the attempt to find nesting places in the far north they may have 

 been overwhelmed by snow and ice during one or two of the unusually 

 severe summers which occurred between 1882 and 1890. 



Many attempts have been made to domesticate the Wild Pigeon and the 

 birds have proved hardy in captivity and have nested somewhat freely; 

 yet no domesticated race has ever been established, and so far as can be 

 learned not more than two individuals of this species are now living 

 in any zoological garden or aviary in the world. Audu])on sent living 

 specimens to a British nobleman, the Earl of Kirby, as early as 1830, and 

 they lived and bred for many years, but seem to have died out eventually. 

 Mr. David Whittaker of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, secured a pair of young 

 Passenger Pigeons from northeastern Wisconsin in the fall of 1888, and in 

 the course of eight j^ears succeeded in breeding from them a little flock of 

 fifteen birds, six males and nine females. Many eggs were laid each year, 

 but few of the young which were hatched could be reared, apparently for 

 lack of proper food. This flock was divided, part of it going to Dr. C. O. 

 \\'liitman of Chicago University, who in 1904 had ten birds, but thought 

 they had been much weakened by inbreeding, as few of the eggs were fertile 

 and the flock steadily decreased. The following year only four were left. 

 Meanwhile the original Milwaukee flock had decreased in the same way, 



