Pilgrims of the Air: The Passing of the Passenger Pigeons
Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Colonial Period (1600-1775), Science & Nature, Nature, Animals, Science, Biological Sciences
| Author: | John Wilson Foster | ISBN: | 9781910749333 |
| Publisher: | New York Review Books | Publication: | October 10, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Notting Hill Editions | Language: | English |
| Author: | John Wilson Foster |
| ISBN: | 9781910749333 |
| Publisher: | New York Review Books |
| Publication: | October 10, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Notting Hill Editions |
| Language: | English |
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.
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.
