SPECIES EXTINCT OR EXTIRPATED. 443 



were seen and shot as late as the year 1878; after that lliey 

 were scarce. The bird was seen by Mr. C. E. IngalLs al Win- 

 chendon, Mass., in 1889; and several were reported by Mr. 

 Ralph Holinan at Worcester in August, September and 

 October. He also reports one killed by a Mr. Newton, jani- 

 tor of the Worcester high school, on September '^2'3, 1889. 

 The last published authentic record of a Passenger Pigeon 

 taken in Massachusetts is given by Howe and Allen as 1889;^ 

 but Mr. Neil Casey of Melrose has an adult female bird 

 mounted, which he shot there on April 1*2, 1894; and he says 

 that two days later a friend saw another, ai)parently its mate, 

 in the same woods.'- 



Many observers report that they have seen the Passenger 

 Pigeon in Massachusetts since that time, but no later authentic 

 record of a specimen actually taken here is available. My 

 correspondence with many hundreds of people throughout the 

 State has resulted in no evidence of the occurrence of the 

 species here, that would be accepted by ornithologists, since 

 the beginning of the present century. 



Unfortunately, there is no detailed published account of 

 the migrations or the nesting of the Passenger Pigeon in Mas- 

 sachusetts or New England in the times when they were 

 numerous; and to get any adequate idea of their numbers, 

 their habits and the causes of their disai)pearance, we must 

 turn to the writings of Wilson, Audubon and others, who 

 observed the bird in the south and west. 



Kalm (1759) says that on the 11th, 12th, 15th, Killi, 17tli, 

 18th and 22d of March, 1740, such a multitude of these birds 

 came to Pennsylvania that a flock alighting to roost in the 

 woods filled both great and little trees for seven miles, and 

 hardly a twig or branch could be seen which they did not 

 cover. On the larger limbs they piled up in heaps. Limbs 

 the size of a man's thigh were broken off by their weight, and 

 the less firmly rooted trees broke down completely under their 



» See also Thayer, H. J.: Forest and Stream, Vol. XXXIII, Oct. 31, 1889, p. 288. 



2 According to Perkins and Howe a few were to be seen near Essex Junction, Vt ., and about Fort 

 Ethan Alien each sea.son up to tho date of their publication (1901), and Dr. Perkins wrote me in 

 1910 that he believed that tliere were a few still about Stratton Mountain in that State where for- 

 merly they nested in great numbers, but no one has been able to obtain a specimen. See Perkins, 

 Geo. H.,and Howe, C D.: A Preliminary List of the Birds found in Vermonl, 190!, p. 17. 



