56 Bird Day Book 



tain parts of Kentucky in territory covering a space three miles 

 long, which was almost literally hidden by them. Hundreds of 

 farmers, he tells, used to camp on the outside of the vast roosting 

 pigeon host and shoot them by the thousands from the edge of their 

 resting place. The birds were fed by thousands to the farmers' 

 hogs after each night's killing. 



The slaughter raged for years with nets, traps, and guns, and 

 by 1884 there were very few of the wild pigeons seen in the country. 

 Several years ago they had dwindled down to a few specimens left 

 in captivity in Milwaukee and in the Cincinnati Zoo. Martha's 

 mate died about four years ago, and though a prize of $1,000 was 

 offered for any one who could find another bird to take its place, 

 Martha remained in solitary widowhood until she died. 



Martha herself was hatched in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo. 

 At the time of her death she was twenty-nine years old. Her last 

 illness had been a matter of concern to ornithologists the world over, 

 and the Cincinnati agent of the Audubon Societies had been in- 

 structed to communicate at once with leading ornithologists and 

 naturalists of the country as soon as she died. 



