“The passenger pigeon needs no protection. …[I]t is here to-day and elsewhere to-morrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed from the myriads that are yearly produced.”
Report of a select committee of the Senate of Ohio State in 1857, on a bill proposed to protect the passenger pigeon*
John James Audubon painted the passenger pigeon in its heyday, while it was still the most common wild bird in North America. In less than a century, this species went from billions to one to extinction.
Passenger pigeons could be found everywhere in the 19th century, travelling in massive colonies. A single flock could have more than 1 billion pigeons! Flying in such big groups offered defence against aerial attackers. As these flocks approached land, however, human hunters easily wiped out adult pigeons and fledglings alike.
In his Ornithological Biography that complemented Birds of America, Audubon described the passenger pigeons’ acrobatic flight and keen vision, as well as their migrations to search for food. Their vast numbers and voracious appetites drew them to breeding and nesting sites with plenty of food and water.
Not everyone supported Audubon’s depiction of the passenger pigeon’s habits. In The Expressions of Emotion in the Pigeons, noted ethologist Wallace Craig described Audubon as a pioneer of American ornithology, adding that “pioneer work is necessarily rough and imperfect.” He criticized Audubon’s “somewhat unscientific imagination” for the way plate LXII portrays a female passenger pigeon billing her male counterpart as a mating ritual. Craig asserted that “in truth the birds when billing are always side by side,” and “if any food is passed at all it is from male to female.”**
Most agreed with Audubon’s representation of the bird’s physical appearance, however. This plate shows a male and female passenger pigeon with similar features, with the female a bit smaller and with a shorter tail. Both have strong bodies with small heads, straight bills, thin necks, short legs and compact plumage on their backs. The light-brownish red male is brighter than the mostly grayish-brown female.
Passenger pigeons became extinct when the last one – Martha – died in captivity on 1 September 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. With her passing, the passenger pigeon became the first documented extinction of a breed caused by humans, not only by being hunted but also by losing its forest habitat to farmland. Martha’s death alerted the world to the need to safeguard endangered species and to protect all species, including those with large populations.
Details
Passenger Pigeon, plate LXII