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228 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
All the vast region ranging along the eastern part of North 
America as far west as the Mississippi Valley and north to the 
Hudson Bay, once so thickly populated with this bird that as 
many as ninety and even a hundred and ten nests have been 
counted on each tree for a distance of three miles, — all this 
territory is now so entirely devoid of representatives of this 
species that there is grave reason for doubting the existence 
of the bird. 
There is now a movement on foot to prevent, if possible, the 
complete extinction of the passenger pigeon. At a recent meet- 
ing of the American Ornithological Union the matter was dis- 
cussed by Prof. Hodge of Clark University. In consequence 
of this, a prize has been offered for “the first information of a 
nesting pair of wild passenger pigeons undisturbed.” It is the 
hope of Col. Kuser, the donor of this prize of $300, that its of- 
fer will stimulate workers in the field of Natural Science and 
will promote efforts towards the protection and safety of this 
‘bird. Shortly after Col. Kuser’s offer was announced, John 
Lewis Childs added a prize of $700 to the original award. Thus 
the first undisturbed nesting pair of passenger pigeons found 
anywhere on the North American continent will be worth one 
thousand dollars to the finder. 
Occasionally the warning is sounded that some bird or 
beast is becoming extinct. But efforts to preserve these ani- 
mals are usually extremely feeble in comparison to the cry 
raised over species that are already extinct. No amount of 
criticism will restore the Bison to our Western plains. The 
thing to do is to stop the wanton destruction going on at pres- 
ent. Just now it is the jays and especially the eagles that 
are diminishing in numbers. If instead of lamenting the rav- 
ages of animal life in the past, well directed efforts were made 
to prevent their repetition in the future, something worth 
while would be accomplished. 
