Page 36 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

14 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
the discovery of one nesting pair of genuine passenger pigeons. Many- persons have claimed this reward (of Professor C. F. Hodge, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass.), and many claims have been investigated. The results have disclosed many mourning doves, but not one pigeon. Now we understand that the quest is closed, and hope has been aban- doned.
The passenger pigeon is a dead species. The last wild specimen (so we believe) that ever will reach the hands of man, was taken near Detroit, Michigan, on Sept. 14, 1908, and mounted by C. Campion. That is the one definite, positive record of the past ten years.
The fate of this species should be a lasting lesson to the world at large. Any wild bird or mammal species can be exterminated by commerciali interests in twenty years time, or less.
The Eskimo Curlew,—Nmnenius borealis, (Forst.). This valuable game bird once ranged all along the Atlantic coast of North America, and wherever found it was prized for the table. It preferred the fields and meadows to the shore lines, and was the companion of the plovers of the uplands, expecially the golden plover. "About 1872," says Mr. Forbush, "there was a great flight of these birds on Cape Cod and Nantucket. Theywereeverywhere; andenormousnumberswerekilled. Theycouldbeboughtofboysatsixcentsapiece. Twomenkilled$300 worth of these birds at that time."
Apparently, that was the beginning of the end of the "dough bird," which was another name for this curlew. In 1908 Mr. G. H. Mackay stated that this bird and the golden plover had decreased 90 per cent in fifty years, and in the last ten years of that period 90 per cent of the remainderhadgone. "Now(1908),"saysMr.Forbush,"ornithologists believe that the Eskimo curlew is practically extinct, as only a few specimens have been recorded since the beginning of the twentieth century." TheverylastrecordisoftwospecimenscollectedatWaco, York County, Nebraska, in March, 1911, and recorded by Mr. August Eiche. Ofcourse,itispossiblethatotherindividualsmaystillsurvive; but so far as our knowledge extends, the species is absolutely dead.
In the West Indies and the Guadeloupe Islands, five species of macaws and parrakeets have passed out without any serious note of their disap- pearanceonthepartofthepeopleoftheUnitedStates. Itisatleasttime to write brief obituary notices of them.
We are indebted to the Hon. Walter Rothschild, of Tring, England, for essential facts regarding these species as set forth in his sumptuous work "Extinct Birds".
The Cuban Tricolored Macaw,—Ara tricolor, (Gm.). In 1875, when the author visited Cuba and the Isle of Pines, he was informed by Professor Poey that he was "about ten years too late" to find this fine species alive. It was exterminated for food purposes, about 1864, and only four specimens are known to be in existence.