the rapid settlement of this great na- 
tion, conflicted with their existence, 
and either the hand of man or the laws 
of nature, made it a clear and decisive 
battle for the survival of the fittest. I 
“have heard stories, from the lips of 
old-timers, concerning the passenger 
pigeon, and the more I hear, the more 
interested I become on the subject, and 
the more I conjecture as to the cause 
of their lamentable tragedy. The 
chance that there may be species of wild 
pigeons in America, closely related to 
the passenger, still exists. We have 
several varieties of wild pigeons in 
Cuba (or doves, as we call them), and 
amongst them, there is one, the paloma 
morada (purple dove), which I really 
believe is sister to the passenger pigeon, 
so great is their resemblance. I have 
seen specimens of the passenger in the 
Museum of Natural History in New 
York City, and the resemblance of these 
two birds is so great, that they can 
hardly be told apart. 
The same small head and long tail; 
the same purplish color with a white 
feather here and there. However, this 
dove of ours is not gregarious; they 
usually go in pairs, but sometimes you 
will see as many as thirty in a flock 
flying to their feeding and roosting 
places. In the valley of Camarivia, 
near Cardenas, Cuba, this dove abounds 
in great numbers. They are swift of 
wing and quite timid. I remember hav- 
ing gone to Camarivia in 1911 with a 
party of friends, on a little hunting 
trip. Our guide took us to a roosting 
place, and along about five in the eve- 
ning, they began to descend upon the 
forest, from all parts of the horizon, in 
vast numbers. In less than an hour, 
we slaughtered over five hundred. I 
said slaughtered—for that was all it 
was. It was pure massacre, and to this 
day, I have never been guilty of such 
cruel and wanton destruction. 
I had a long talk with a Mexican, not 
so very long ago, and in speaking of 
wild game in his country, the conversa- 
tion drifted to the passenger pigeon. 
He spoke of having seen a live speci- 
men of this pigeon in Cincinnati several 
years ago, and he seemed to be sure, 
that a pigeon of identical markings 
existed in his country. 
We have another wild pigeon in 
Cuba, the paloma torcaza, a very 
‘large and gregarious bird, that a few 
years ago abounded in the Island in 
great numbers. They are migratory, 
but are strictly natives of Cuba. At 
certain seasons of the year, they mi- 
grate from one part of the island to 
another, in search of new feeding 
grounds. The toreaza is gradually be- 
coming extinct, not so much because of 
its persecution by hunters, but because 
of the growth of the sugar industry in 
Cuba. The authorities are now taking 
steps toward their protection, but this 
is futile, for what the gun won’t do, the 
plough will accomplish. 
During the last few years, the sugar 
industry has grown in Cuba in such 
great proportions, that the island has 
been practically divested of all its for- 
ests. Thousands of acres of timber 
lands, the roosting places of the tor- 
caza, have been cut and burned to 
ashes. Mahogany, cedar, ebony and 
numerous woods, all burned to ashes. 
Nothing saved! No time to waste; cane 
must be planted. 
When the Caletones forests, near 
Gibara, Cuba, were cut down in 1918 
for the planting of sugar cane, a con- 
tractor told me that it was an outrage, 
a sacrilege, upon the torcaza dove. He 
estimated that over 5 millions nests 
came down with the felling of the trees; 
most of them with young broods in 
them. The devastation of forests in 
Cuba has meant desolation for this and 
other birds. They have lost their roost- 
ing, nesting and feeding places with 
the clearing of the forests, where thou- 
sands of wild grape trees (uvillas) af- 
forded food for them. The numbers 
of the torcaza have been so greatly re- 
duced, that in the Gibara district, my 
home, where this dove was plentiful, 
they are seldom seen now. 
Does civilization drive wild creatures 
away? Will the plough and the sugar 
industry be responsible for the extinc- 
tion of this bird in Cuba? Will neces- 
sity drive them away? We all fight for 
dear life, and we go to extremes to sus- 
tain it. No doubt birds have the same 
instinct, and who knows but that the 
torcaza, in its effort to preserve itself, 
will abandon its native home in quest 
of more favorable surroundings. 
Could the passenger pigeon have 
thought and done likewise. . 
Dr.*V. BENEDICTO, 
Gibara, Ote, Cuba. 

From drawing by Louis Rhead 
Be of good cheer, ye followers of the immortal Walton, 
Page 41 
spring days are but a matter of weeks! 
