237 The long flight back 



1878. Now, in rapid succession, the passenger pigeon and the 

 Carolina paroquet were to disappear from the North American 

 scene, and thus from the earth. Evidently the last wild flock of pas- 

 senger pigeons became extinct about 1900, although a last living 

 example died in captivity, in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, in 

 1914. Schorger estimates that at the time of the first settlements 

 there may have been between 3 and 5 billion of these birds. 

 Witmer Stone wrote: 



The reduction of this once abundant bird to absolute ex- 

 termination by man's greed should be a lesson to us all, and 

 stifle all opposition to the efforts now being made by national 

 and state governments in behalf of the conservation of other 

 birds threatened with a like fate. What is a little loss of sport 

 to us compared with the extinction of a wild species some- 

 thing that the hand of man can never replace? 



As for the Carolina paroquet, there have been uncertain or 

 unconfirmed reports since, but the last generally accepted observa- 

 tion is that of Frank M. Chapman who saw thirteen of these 

 birds along Taylor Creek, on the northeast side of Lake Okee- 

 chobee, Florida. The date was April, 1904. 



What was responsible for the extinction of these once abundant 

 birds? In each case the hand of man is not only plainly discernible, 

 but there are well-documented accounts of the exact manner 

 in which the destruction of each was brought about. It should be 

 clear to us at this point that although as paleontologists would 

 remind us, and as Darwin himself emphasized extinction has 

 been almost a commonplace phenomenon since the first dawn 

 of life, there is a vast difference between the slow extermination 

 of a species as a result of natural selection, and an abrupt, callous, 

 and unthinking extermination at the hands of man. Students of 

 progressive evolution, and of the vagaries of animal populations 

 in general, can tell us much about the normal processes of extinc- 

 tion, and those of us who are concerned with species that are 

 being persecuted and reduced by man must be completely aware 

 of the work in these fields, but at the same time we cannot afford 

 to overlook the tremendous impact of unnatural factors. If steps 



