Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical timesRothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Science
Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times
Rothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Birds; Extinct birds
"The disappearance of the Passenger Pigeon in Ontario dates back at least
forty years, though as late as 1870 some of the old roosts were still
frequented, but the incredible flocks, of which so much has been said, had
gone long before that date, and by 1880 the pigeon was practically
exterminated, not only in Ontario, but over the greater part of its old
range. There are however occasional records of birds taken, for some years
later. An immature bird taken September 9, 1887, in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, is said to be the last for that part of the State[4]; a bird,
also immature, is in my collection, taken in December, 1888, at Montreal,
Quebec. There are other Montreal records of the same date,[5] but with the
exception of one taken at Tadousac, July 26, 1889,[6] these are the last
Quebec records of birds actually taken. In Ontario two were taken at
Toronto in 1890, on September 20, and October 11, both immature females,
the latter is in my collection, as is an adult female taken by Mr. Walter
Brett, at Riding Mountain, Manatoba, May 12, 1892, one of a pair seen. I
also have an adult male taken at Waukegon, Illinois, December 19, 1892. I
was in New York in the latter part of November, 1892, and was then assured
by Mr. Rowland, a well known taxidermist, that he had recently seen several
barrels of pigeons that had been condemned as unfit for food; they had come
to New York from Indian Territory, and I believe had had their tails pulled
out to permit tighter packing. Mr. William Brewster has recorded the
sending of several hundred dozens of pigeons to the Boston market in
December of the same year, and in January, 1893; these were also from
Indian Territory[7]; these are the last records we have of the Passenger
Pigeon as anything more than a casual migrant. The records ceased after
this till 1898, when three birds were taken at points widely apart, {170}
an adult male at Winnipegosis, Manatoba, on April 14,[8] an immature male
at Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 27, now in the Smithsonian Institution, and
another immature bird taken at Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, now in
my collection; these are the last records that can be based on specimens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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