Meyer, H. L.
Bird plate. Passenger pigeon (Male & Female), Columba migratoria (Linn.).
London, the author, ca. 1835. Folio (37.5 x 27.6 cm). Well preserved hand-painted engraving of two specimens of a now extinct bird.
The passenger pigeon is one of the most spectacular birds, after the dodo, and the great auk, known to have become extinct at the hand of humans. In fact, Man's direct responsibility for the disappearance of a bird that once was the most common bird in North America, is much clearer. With an estimate population of three to five billion specimens it was so abundant that flocks blackened the sky, before it was actively exterminated by American "sportsmen" and their guns, whereas the demise of the dodo was largely due to the (unintentional) introduction of rats and cats. Dutch-born British ornithologist Henri Leonhard Meyer (1797-1865), author and illustrator of Illustrations of British Birds (London, Longman, 1835-1850), one of the best books on British Birds (see, e.g., Hale), painted these then still utterly common birds in the 1830's, after some rare specimens that, during their annual migration, were blown off course and ended in the British Islands. Thirty-five years later, the passenger pigeon became rare, and seventy years later the last passenger pigeon - aged 29 years - died in a zoo. This print is in excellent condition. Some light and occasional spotting. In a fine condition. Anker, p. 58; Hale, W. G. (2007) The Meyer's Illustrations of British Birds; Hale, W. G. (2012) The Meyer's Coloured Illustrations of British Birds and their Eggs and the Finishing of the Folio 1842-1847; C. E. Jackson, Bird Illustrators, pp. 59-62; Nissen IVB, 628; Wood, p. 462.