The Audubon Societies 



399 



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THE LAST PASSENGER PIGEON 



"Martha," believed to be the last Passenger Pigeon on earth, died in the Zoological 

 Garden at Cincinnati, at two o'clock p. m., September i, 1914. She was hatched in cap- 

 tivity twenty-nine years ago. This marks the passing of the last survivor of a species 

 whose vast flocks, up to a generation ago, were the ornithological wonder of the world. 

 The National Association, realizing the widespread interest in this deplorable 

 incident, announced that it would give to anyone, on request, its Leaflet No. 6, with a 

 portrait of this Pigeon in colors. The response was immediate, and from all over the 

 country, so that about 2,500 copies were sent out, many of them to persons of great 

 influence and social prominence. This is an admirable indication of the widely diffused 

 and highly intelligent interest in birds and their preservation. 



