| The Museum collection
includes an original Passenger Pigeon (Ectopisles Migratorius). This
species existed in greater numbers than any other bird on North America,
collecting into immense flocks covering thousands of square kilometers with
such density that they would sometimes block out the daylight. The species
was hunted to extinction during the 19th century, with the last individual
dying in a zoo in 1914. The redder colors of the throat of our specimen
suggest that this was a male. The feet are not original. Its individual
history is not documented, but it came to us from the Portland Society of
Natural History. |
