Nancy Buzzetta, age 11, of St. Louis, Missouri, for her question:
What became of the passenger pigeon?
Young people tend to look to the future with bright eyed concern. This explains why the passenger pigeon is such a popular topic among their questions to Andy. He is one of many creatures that became extinct in modern times. And youth wants to stop this list from growing longer.
It is true that there are some people who couldn't care less about preserving the world of nature for future generations. But, fortunately, there are vast numbers of sensible adults who are just as concerned about this problem as their forward looking children. They give their time and their honey to further the protection of threatened plants and animals. They also strive to make plans for the conservation of our fuel deposits and other natural resources. To them, the passenger pigeon is a symbol of man's careless crimes against the world of nature, just as he is to the younger generation.
In 1857, Ohio conservationists tried to pass laws to limit the slaughter of passenger pigeons. They failed because the law makers claimed that the birds multiplied at a great rate and their vast flocks needed no protection. These non conservationists were wrong on both counts. A pair of passenger pigeons produced only one offspring each year. Their flocks of millions were destroyed and the lest bird died in 1914, a captive in the Cincinnati Zoo. No person born since 1914 has seen a living passenger pigeon. In 1947, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology erected a funeral monument to the species.
The extinct bird measures about 17 inches from the tip of his perky beak to the end of his pointed tail. He wore his pigeon gray plumage with a bright iridescent vest of rusty brown. The two factors tha= led to his tragic extermination were his menu and his love of company. He dined on grains and seeds. And his life was worth living only when shared with a huge flock of his friends and relatives.
Early in the 1800's, the bird painter J. J. Audubon estimated the number in one flock. to be about one billion. Such clouds of hungry birds descended on the corn and grain crops of the early settlers. They were shot, netted and trapped in countless numbers. When un¬seasonable weather destroyed the crops, more passenger pigeons were killed for human food. The last great hunt occurred in Michigan 90 years ago. The pigeon hunters needed 15 tons of ice to pack merely the young birds.
The community breeding grounds of the passenger pigeons often covered 800 square miles. There were 50 to 100 nests in a tree and the favorite trees were beeches. The bird colonies diminished as the beech forests were cut down and for some reason still unknown, the pas¬senger pigeon could not breed or even live in small flocks. Few people realized that the teeming species was doomed until the last lone captive died in September, 1914.
The grim year of 1914 also saw the extinction of another native American bird. The early settlers had started slaughtering flocks of Carolina parakeets for their jewel toned plumage. In 1914, the last of these pretty little parrots died in captivity. We should remember that these and many other extinct creatures will never live on earth again. We also should look to the future and act to protect other threatened species. The fantastic blue whale, largest animal that ever lived, is in danger. And shame on us, so is our very own national emblem, the American Eagle.