The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-12-08
MILLIONS ONCE:
ONLY ONE NOW
ONLY ONE LIVING PASSENGER
PIGEON. COPPER COUNTRY
HAD MANY IN EAR
LY DAYS.

iHS nef ne at the ZOOlOBical garden i'm
Cincinnati is to-day all that remains
of an American species that early I'm
the last century swarmed over the con-
tinent I'm fiocks numbering billions.
With the death of this sole survivor
of bird tribe, whose nesting places
often covered hundreds of square
miles, there will soon disappear the
last trace Of the wild pigeons that
have been slaughtered by the million
by men who fed their hogs upon the
carcasses they could not carry away.
Though II Is too late to save this
species, special efforts are now being
made by the Audubon workers To
bring about the restoration of other
birds of economic value that must
otherwise share the same fate.
At one time passenger pigeons were
prolific in the copper country. espe-
cially I'm the South Range district.
where thousands of them were killed
every season.
Can't Find a Bird.
For many months systematic search
has been made throughout the con-
tinent by officials of the Audubon as
ISOLATION for relics of the once prolific
Passenger Pigeon. Members of the
organization headed by Professor c.
f. Hodge of Clark university have
made standing offer Of 81 500 to any
one discovering a nest Of this species.
but, though thousands have been try
ing eagerly for the prize. not one sin
gle claimant has appeared. In response
to a recent inquiry by r. Gilbert Pear
son, secretary of the National Associa-
ton of Audubon Societies, the author
tiles of the Cincinnati Zoo have lust
furnished the last chapter in the tragic
tale of these butchered birds. The
Last of the Passenger Pigeons" is
female, IS years old, whose mate
died recently without issue at the age
of "a.
AS late as 1877 what is now known
to- have been the last nesting place of
these wild birds was found i'm Michi-
gan, where their nests thickly cover
ed the trees over an area 2S miles
long and miles wide. Residents of
ANtN lOih htIldIt llldN III 1871 IneN
nocked over Manhattan Island I'm such
numbers that they obscured the sun
and that ships loaded in bulk with the
bodies of these birds lay at the
wharves selling them at a cent apiece
iAudubons is quoted as observing
lucky early in the last century that
extended 40 miles and was 3 miles i'm
width ON its edges men with guns,
nets, clubs and torches slaughtered the
roosting birds, each often bagging 500
in one day. When the wholesale
butchers could carry away no more,
they let loose droves of hogs to fatten
on what was left. About 1856 this
treatment began to thin the ranks of
the passenger pigeons till two years
ago it was discovered that only seven
could be found on the whole CONT
nent, four at Milwaukee and three i'm
Cincinnati.
Other Birds May be Saved.
Declaring that practically all the
guls and terms in America today have
survived solely through the work of
protection and restoration at their
reservations, leaders of the National
Association of Audubon Societies are
now appealing to the people of this
country to support the work of pre-
serving dying species of native birds
which they have already begun. The
Upland Plover Cabot's Tern and the
Least Tern, they assert. can now be
saved to the nation by quick emer-
gency measures for which special
funds are to be raised. The work of
restoring the Wood Duck and other
game birds that are threatened with
the fate of the Passenger Pigeon is to-
be undertaken by the Audubon work.
ers with the support of the sportsmen
of the country. Sad as is the passing
of the Passenger Pigeon, its lesson
may avert the extinction of other val
liable species, it is declared, If the
American people rally at once to save
their remaining bird resources.