THE PASSENGER PIGEON 



( Ectopistes migratoriusJ] 



There are few, if any, birds of which 

 it is more difficult and painful to write 

 than the Passenger or Wild Pigeon, for 

 it forcibly calls to mind the inhuman 

 side of man's nature. This beautiful 

 bird, which is now very rare and per 

 haps nearly extinct, was only a few years 

 ago not only common but very abundant. 

 In the year 1892 Captain Bendire fully 

 appreciated the critical situation as re 

 gards the Passenger Pigeon. He then 

 said: "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 exter 

 mination might be accomplished within 

 the present century. The only thing 

 which retards their complete extinc 

 tion 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 unremitting pers^ution on 

 their breeding grounds, tney have 

 changed their habits somewhat, the ma 

 jority no longer breeding in colonies, 

 but scattering over the country and 

 breeding in isolated pairs." 



Both Wilson and Audubon tell us of 

 immense flocks which they observed 

 many years ago. Mr. Wilson speaks of 

 having counted upwards of ninety nests 

 on single trees, in a breeding place in the 

 state of Kentucky. Near Frankfort, in 

 the same state, he saw an immense num 

 ber and says: "They were flying, with 

 great steadiness and rapidity, at a height 

 beyond gunshot, in several strata deep, 

 and so closely together that, could shot 

 have reached them, one discharge could 

 not have failed of bringing down several 

 individuals. From right to left, far as 

 eye could reach, the breadth of this vast 

 procession extended, seeming every 

 where equally crowded." Curiosity de 

 termined Mr. Wilson to find out how 



long this appearance would continue. It 

 was then about half past one o'clock. He 

 says: "I sat for more than an hour, but 

 instead of a diminution of this prodigious 

 procession, it seemed rather to increase 

 both in number and rapidity; and, anx 

 ious to reach Frankfort before night, I 

 rose and went on. About four o'clock in 

 the afternoon I crossed the Kentucky riv 

 er, at the town of Frankfort, at which 

 time the living torrent above seemed 

 as numerous and as extensive as ever. 

 Long after this I observed them in large 

 bodies, that continued to pass for six or 

 eight minutes, and these again were fol 

 lowed by other detached bodies, all mov 

 ing in the same southeast direction, till 

 after six in the evening." Mr. Wilson 

 estimated that this flight of Pigeons 

 must have included many more than 

 two thousand two hundred millions of 

 individuals. 



If the Passenger or Wild Pigeons 

 were so abundant, what was the cause 

 of their relatively sudden disappear 

 ance? The last known stronghold of 

 these birds was in Michigan and it was 

 there that the last flight of any magni 

 tude was observed. This was in 1888. 

 The last group of Pigeons of any impor 

 tance, in relation to numbers, nesting in 

 Michigan was noted in 1881, a short dis 

 tance west of Grand Traverse. It is 

 said that the area occupied was small 

 and only about eight miles long. This 

 species has been practically, if not quite 

 exterminated by the unsportsmanlike 

 methods of hunting them. So numerous 

 and countless were the Pigeons in the 

 flocks at the nesting and roosting places 

 that a gun seemed a totally useless wea 

 pon for the hunt. Wholesale methods 

 of destruction were followed, and they 

 were caught in nets, or knocked to the 

 earth with poles. It is said that in the 

 Michigan nesting period of 1881 at least 



