The Passenger Pigeon in Ontario (Classic Reprint)

The Passenger Pigeon in Ontario (Classic Reprint)

Author: Margaret Howell Mitchell

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-11-26

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9780331984385

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Excerpt from The Passenger Pigeon in Ontario Much has already been written of these birds, beginning with accounts from early travellers and pioneers and ending with the more scientific records of such men as Forbush and Barrows. However, nothing as exhaustive as this monograph has ever been attempted. W. B. Mershon and J. C. French made valuable collections of information for their respective States of Michigan and Pennsylvania, but as they themselves assert they were both simply interested and enthusiastic laymen. It is felt, therefore that the present work has a definite contribution to make to the knowledge of an extinct species. It not only preserves such information as we have concerning passenger pigeons in the province of Ontario, but it also covers rather fully several aspects of the birds' life-history which have before been only touched upon. Enumerating the most important, they are: food; northern limits of occurrence and nesting; variation in numbers; fixed migration routes, and finally, a new theory of extermination which divests former theories of much of their uncertainty and mystery. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.


The Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon

Author: John Audubon

Publisher: American Roots

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781429096201

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"'The Passenger Pigeon' is from Ornithological Biography by John James Audubon. It was first published in 1831."--t.p. verso.


The Passenger Pigeon

The Passenger Pigeon

Author: Errol Fuller

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 140085220X

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A haunting, beautifully illustrated memorial to this iconic extinct bird At the start of the nineteenth century, Passenger Pigeons were perhaps the most abundant birds on the planet, numbering literally in the billions. The flocks were so large and so dense that they blackened the skies, even blotting out the sun for days at a stretch. Yet by the end of the century, the most common bird in North America had vanished from the wild. In 1914, the last known representative of her species, Martha, died in a cage at the Cincinnati Zoo. This stunningly illustrated book tells the astonishing story of North America's Passenger Pigeon, a bird species that—like the Tyrannosaur, the Mammoth, and the Dodo—has become one of the great icons of extinction. Errol Fuller describes how these fast, agile, and handsomely plumaged birds were immortalized by the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, and captured the imagination of writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. He shows how widespread deforestation, the demand for cheap and plentiful pigeon meat, and the indiscriminate killing of Passenger Pigeons for sport led to their catastrophic decline. Fuller provides an evocative memorial to a bird species that was once so important to the ecology of North America, and reminds us of just how fragile the natural world can be. Published in the centennial year of Martha’s death, The Passenger Pigeon features rare archival images as well as haunting photos of live birds.


Pilgrims of the Air: The Passing of the Passenger Pigeons

Pilgrims of the Air: The Passing of the Passenger Pigeons

Author: John Wilson Foster

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 1910749338

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This is a story of a scarcely credible abundance, of flocks of birds so vast they made the sky invisible. It is also a story of a collapse into extinction so startling as to provoke a mystery. In the fate of the North American passenger pigeon we can read much of the story of wild America—the astonishment that accompanied its discovery, the allure of its natural “productions” the ruthless exploitation of its “commodities” and the ultimate betrayal of its peculiar genius. And in the bird’s fate can be read, too, the essential vulnerability of species, the unpredictable passage of life itself.


A Feathered River Across the Sky

A Feathered River Across the Sky

Author: Joel Greenberg

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-09-02

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1620405369

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This beautifully written cautionary tale reveals how passenger pigeons have become extinct and how no series effort was made to protect this species that inspired awe in the likes of John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau and James Fenimore Cooper until it was too late.


Resurrection Science

Resurrection Science

Author: M. R. O'Connor

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1466879327

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**A Library Journal Best Book of 2015 ** **A Christian Science Monitor Top Ten Book of September** In a world dominated by people and rapid climate change, species large and small are increasingly vulnerable to extinction. In Resurrection Science, journalist M. R. O'Connor explores the extreme measures scientists are taking to try and save them, from captive breeding and genetic management to de-extinction. Paradoxically, the more we intervene to save species, the less wild they often become. In stories of sixteenth-century galleon excavations, panther-tracking in Florida swamps, ancient African rainforests, Neanderthal tool-making, and cryogenic DNA banks, O'Connor investigates the philosophical questions of an age in which we "play god" with earth's biodiversity. Each chapter in this beautifully written book focuses on a unique species--from the charismatic northern white rhinoceros to the infamous passenger pigeon--and the people entwined in the animals' fates. Incorporating natural history and evolutionary biology with conversations with eminent ethicists, O'Connor's narrative goes to the heart of the human enterprise: What should we preserve of wilderness as we hurtle toward a future in which technology is present in nearly every aspect of our lives? How can we co-exist with species when our existence and their survival appear to be pitted against one another?


On Rare Birds

On Rare Birds

Author: Anita Albus

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-09-03

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0762774835

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A passionate natural history of extinct and endangered bird species from around the world.


A Message from Martha

A Message from Martha

Author: Mark Avery

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-07-17

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1472906268

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The story of Passenger Pigeon, and what we can learn from its demise 100 years ago. September 1st, 2014 marked the centenary of one of the best-documented extinctions in history – the demise of the Passenger Pigeon. From being the commonest bird on the planet 50 years earlier, the species became extinct on that fateful day, with the death in Cincinnati Zoo of Martha – the last of her kind. This book tells the tale of the Passenger Pigeon, and of Martha, and of author Mark Avery's journey in search of them. It looks at how the species was a cornerstone of the now much-diminished ecology of the eastern United States, and how the species went from a population that numbered in the billions to nil in a terrifyingly brief period of time. It also explores the largely untold story of the ecological annihilation of this part of America in the latter half of the 19th century, a time that saw an unprecedented loss of natural beauty and richness as forests were felled and the prairies were ploughed, with wildlife slaughtered more or less indiscriminately. Despite the underlying theme of loss, this book is more than another depressing tale of human greed and ecological stupidity. It contains an underlying message – that we need to re-forge our relationship with the natural world on which we depend, and plan a more sustainable future. Otherwise more species will go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. We should listen to the message from Martha.