A FEATHERED RIVER ACROSS THE SKY: THE PASSENGER PIGEON'S FLIGHT TO EXTINCTION. By Joel Greenberg.

2014 1st edition. 8vo (162 x 241mm). Ppxiv,290. Colour plates, b/w photographs, map, good bibliography. Dark brown paper-covered boards, spine titled in silver-gilt.

"The epic story of why passenger pigeons became extinct and what that says about our current relatioship with the natural world." "When Europeans arrived in North America 25 to 40 percent of the continent's birds were passenger pigeons, traveling in flocks so massive as to block out the sun for hours or even days. The downbeats of their wings would chill the air beneath and create a thundering roar that would drown out all other sound. Feeding flocks would appear as 'a blue wave four or five feet high rolling towards you.' John James Audubon, impressed by their speed and agility, said a lone passenger pigeon streaking through the forest 'passes like a though.' How prophetic - for although a billion pigeons likely crossed the skies near Toronto in May of 1860, little more than fifty years later passenger pigeons were extinct. The last of the species, Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914. As naturalist Joel Greenberg relates in gripping detail, the pigeons' propensity to nest, roost, and fly together in vast numbers made them vulnerable to unremitting market and recreational hunting. The spread of railroads and telegraph lines created national demand that allowed the birds to be pursued relentlessly. Passenger pigeons inspired awe in the likes of Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, and others, but no serious effort was made to protect the species until it was too late. Greenberg's beautifully written story paints a vivid picture of the passenger pigeon's place in literature, art, and the hearts and minds of those who witnessed this epic bird, while providing a cautionary tale of what happens when species and natural resources are not harvested sustainably."