ONCE THERE WAS A PASSENGER PIGEON

by Esther S. & Bernard L. Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1976

Once there was a passenger pigeon--but the species is now as defunct as that other unfortunate creature the Gordons mourned in There Really Was a Dodo (1974). Though Audubon wrote in 1813 that pigeons in the air near the Ohio River eclipsed the sun, and their droppings ""fell like snowflakes,"" they've since fallen more like--well, pigeons, victimized by wholesale hunting and trapping (the original ""stool pigeons"" were blinded and tied to wooden stools as bait), live target shooting contests, and general ""thoughtless killing""; the last one died in a zoo in 1914. The Gordons' brief report is informative, as far as it goes, and Di Fiori's drawings are decorative; for better or worse, the book's framed, formal design seems set up to extend both.

Pub Date: June 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walck

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION