Zoology Collection - Passenger Pigeon Specimen

Gone for a Century

Great migratory flocks of Passenger Pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) once filled the skies of North America. But hunting and habitat-loss led to a slow – and then precipitous – decline throughout the 19th century. The last known Passenger Pigeon in Nova Scotia was recorded in 1869. And the last in the world, named “Martha”, after Martha Washington, died in a Cincinatti zoo on September 1, 1914. Our specimen represents the first Canadian record of the Passenger Pigeon.

Object type: 
zoological specimen
Object #: 
966.1
Collection name: 
Origin/place: 
Nova Scotia
Materials: 
Taxidermied Mount
Dimensions: 
37 cm L x 9 cm W x 20 cm H