Forest and Stream 
Vol. LXXXI. 
February 7, 1914 
No. 6 
FEB 0 1914 
The Last Surviving Passenger Pigeon 
One Solitary Specimen Living Out of Countless Millions that Once Darkened the Skies in their Migration 
By D. H. EATON 
Photo by C. O. Whitman, Reproduced from “The Passenger Pigeon’’ by W. B. Mershon (See Cover Illustration ) 
A T the Cincinnati Zoo is the- sole survivor 
of the countless ’millions of Passenger 
Pigeons which once darkened the sun in 
their migratory flights. Guarded by Supt. Sol. 
Stephan as a jewel of inestimable 
value, it occupies a unique position 
in the bird world, as the only living- 
representative of its race. It has 
become famous throughout the 
country, and ornithologists and 
bird lovers have made pilgrimages 
to the Zoo for the express purpose 
of seeing the bird before it passes 
away, and the Passenger Pigeon 
joins the Dodo and the Great Auk 
>n the list of extinct species. 
Fifty years ago the man who 
predicted that before the close of 
the nineteenth century the wild 
pigeon would become only a mem¬ 
ory, would have been considered as 
lacking in ordinary common sense. 
The idea that by any means known 
to man the millions could be ex¬ 
terminated was preposterous. But 
the inevitable result of continuous 
and indiscriminate slaughter fol¬ 
lowed; the prediction, if ever 
made, came true, and a beautiful 
species of feathered life was wiped 
from the earth. 
Sportsmen, generally, are waking 
up to the fact that the same result 
will follow present day practices in 
regard to some species of game 
birds, though perhaps a trifle more 
slowly, and are working to prevent 
a repetition of the story of the 
pigeon. More interest, and by a 
larger number of sportsmen, is be¬ 
ing taken in game protection and 
propagation, and the beneficial ef¬ 
fect of this is seen in the passing 
of better laws and their more uni¬ 
versal enforcement. In many states 
the open season has been short¬ 
ened ; in some the shooting of cer¬ 
tain species has been prohibited for 
a period of years, anc^ in all, or 
nearly all, there has ’been estab¬ 
lished a bag limit. The Federal 
law prohibiting the spring shooting 
of wild fowl is a long step in the 
right direction, and cannot fail to 
show good results. 
In the spring of 1877 three pairs 
of Passenger Pigeons were procured for the Cin¬ 
cinnati Zoo at a cost of $2.50 per pair. For sev¬ 
eral years beginning in 1878, these birds contin¬ 
representative of the species. This bird is now 
twenty-eight years old, and is apparently in per¬ 
fect health. At its death it will be given to the 
Smithsonian Institution. For several years the 
Zoo has had a standing offer of 
$1,500 for a live Passenger Pigeon, 
but as yet no one has earned the 
reward. About $5,000 in all is 
ready to be paid to the person fur¬ 
nishing information which leads 
to the discovery of a wild pigeon 
or its nest. Many have claimed 
the reward, but investigation 
proved that a mistake had been 
made, and the offer is still open. 
During the latter part of 1913 it 
was reported that four large flocks 
were roosting in woods on the 
farm of Owen Smith, about three 
miles west of Petersburg, Ind. 
Later in the same year a flock, 
said to number several hundreds, 
was reported to have been found in 
isolated woods in Emmet county, 
Wisconsin. These reports have 
not been confirmed, and are un¬ 
doubtedly cases of mistaken iden¬ 
tity on the part of the observers. 
The migration of the Passenger 
Pigeon was caused by the neces¬ 
sity of procuring food, and not to 
escape the severity of a nothern 
clime. A sufficient supply of food 
in one locality would often keep 
them absent for long periods from 
others. In Kentucky they were 
present for several years, and then 
disappeared when the mast was 
exhausted, and did not return for 
a long period. 
The flight was very swift, birds 
have been killed in New York 
with their crops full of rice which 
must have been gotten in the fields 
of the South. As they completely 
digest food within twelve hours, 
they must have traveled between 
300 and 400 miles in six hours. 
Audubon’s account of a flight of 
pigeons early in the last century 
and which he states to have been 
the largest he ever saw, is interest¬ 
ing. Soon after leaving home on 
a journey he observed the van¬ 
guard of the flight, which was 
from northeast to southwest. In 21 
minutes he counted 163 flocks passing overhead. 
He says: “The air was literally filled with 
pigeons; the light of noonday was obscured as 
ued to breed, until the usual result of close in- 
breeding became manifest. Various other species 
of doves were introduced by Mr. Stephans in an 
effort to keep up the stock, but without avail; 
A Young Passenger Pigeon. 
they died one by one, until, in 1910, only a single 
pair was left, and in that year the male bird 
passed away, leaving the female as the last living 
