The Passenger Pigeon 6i 



ists and hunters in former years, are, like the immense 

 herds of the American bison which roamed over the 

 great plains of the West in countless thousands but a 

 couple of decades ago, things of the past, probably 

 never to be seen again. 



In fact, the extermination of the Passenger Pigeon 

 has progressed so rapidly during the past twenty years 

 that it looks now as if their total extermination might 

 be accomplished within the present century. The only 

 thing which retards their complete extinction is that it 

 no longer pays to net these birds, they being too scarce 

 for this now, at least in the more settled portions of the 

 country, and also, perhaps, that from constant and un- 

 remitting persecution on their breeding grounds they 

 have changed their habits somewhat, the majority no 

 longer breeding in colonies, but scattering over the 

 country and breeding in isolated pairs. 



Mr. William Brewster, in his article "On the Present 

 Status of the Wild Pigeon," etc., writes as follows: "In 

 the spring of 1888 my friend, Captain Bendire, wrote 

 me that he had received news from a correspondent in 

 central Michigan to the effect that wild pigeons had 

 arrived there in great numbers and were preparing to 

 nest. Acting on this Information, I started at once, in 

 company with Mr. Jonathan Dwight, jr., to visit the 

 expected 'nesting' and learn as much as possible about 

 the habits of the breeding birds, as well as to secure 

 specimens of their skins and eggs. 



