The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-06-25
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FORTUNE FOR PAIR PIGEONS,
One Lone Female in Cincinnati
Zoo All That Is Left Of Mill
lions of Famous Birds,

New York Worldly
Five thousand dollars for a pair of
pigeons.
Yes, and more thar that, If any one
can really deliver the goods.
All that the bird lovers of the Unit
ed states want to see is two genuine.
passenger pigeons. male
II female. and the moneys yours on
a gold plate.
darkened our skies. Once their for
est nesting places We're so crowded
that the noise of the birds was deaf
ening. Thousands We're shipped to
market every week: one hunter could
net or shoot or club to death hum
dreds s day-fatigue or inability to
see In the oncoming darkness was all
that stopped the days slaughter.
And now there is one Yes. there
is one. She is a poor. lone female.
21years old. in the Cincinnati Zoo.
age, cared for as tenderly as a prince
ling in swaddiing clothes, her little
day is fast drawing to its close. And
then the race of passenger pigeons
will have persisted from the face OF
the earth. not the first innocent VIC
inns of the greed of man.
But the Audubon societies of the
country and bird lovers all still cher
ish hope. Perhaps a pair is still alive
somewhere. Perhaps some hidden
nesting place may be found. Perhaps
there is yet some solitary spot as vet
untrodden by man where they are
dwelling in peace-perhaps.
So the reward Of $4,000. Several
wealthy men have contributed to it.
Chief among them are Colonel An
thony r. Kuser Of Bernardsville. y.
j.: Prof. c. F.. Hodge of Clark uni
verstty. Worcester, Mass. who gave
up his quest after three years search
Of North America, and Colonel John
r. Thayer OF Lancaster. Mass. All
they ask is a pair Of passenger
he p~ropagated and preserved for all
time.
A few days ago hope ran high. Apr
parently authentic reports came from
Anenia. Penn, that a pair Of genuine
passenger pigeons had been seen there
morning.
II saw them" declared Mark Hau-
ser. resident of the Lehigh Motor
club. and so did T." reiterated Moses
NeWhard. by way Of emphasis.
Scores Immediately sought the
upon thousands of the birds made
their nesting places-everybody want
ed to win that $4,000. Every tree big
enough to hide a single nest was
anxiously scanned but nary a pigeon.
At night the search was given up in
despair. The $1,000 is still awaiting
a claimant.
W get on an average OF two such
reports a week from different parts
Of the country" said DIR. w. T. Horn
aday. director Of the New York Zoo
InrtNal Go~1rr sh,x ILL.,. j,
turn out to be Incorrect
just a brief history now OF the
passing OF this doomed bird.
A century ago the timid, gentle
thing was among the most numerous
Of all our wild species. The vast for
est that covered Eastern North Ameri-
ca was its habitat. Breaking up into
tremendous focks in the autumn, it
sought the more hospitable Southland
for the cold season, but with the ad-
vent of spring the birds assembled
again IN several stupendous hosts to
return northward for the summer. So
densely packed were the pigeons that
they darkened the sky like a pail Of
thunder clouds and the noises OF their
innumerable wings beating the air
ounde like the onward roar Of an
advancing storm OF wind and rain.
Alexander Wilson. the great ornith-
oloelst, saw a flock near Frankfort,
KY, in 1903, in which he estimated
there were at least $3.50, 272, 900 in
dividual birds.
AS late as 1850 huge iocks made
their vernal Journeys right over New
York City. But soon after they be-
gan to grow thinner and thinner. IN
July. 1881, 10000 made a Roman holi-
day for trap shooters who held a
weeks butchery at Coney Island. No
large flock has been recorded since
1888. The last known great nesting
place, four miles broad and twenty
eight miles long, nea Petoskey, Mich,
was leaned out in 1878, when a bill
lion birds were slaughtered for mark
ct. Every living SQUAD was shaken out
OF Its nest and when the bird murder
was complete and all the
shipped that the market could alb
sorb. droves of hogs were turned inro
the woods to feed on the dead and
dying doves that remained on the
ground.
In 1893 a few hundred alone sur
vived. In 1895 about so fingered in
Missouri, a pitiful remnant.
Down in the pleasant valley Of the
Ohio" says Moritz Fischer, the ma
~turaiist, referring to the female in the
Cincinnati Zoo, amidst patriarchs OF
tie forest primeval, lives to this day
a captive and q lonely daughter. OF
her gentle tribe and It's sole relief.
awaiting the final summons that
.conaas to eli that breathe"