What is "ectopistes migratorius"

passenger pigeon \passenger pigeon\ (Zo["o]l.), A once common wild pigeon of North America ( Ectopistes migratorius), now extinct. It was so called on account of its extensive migrations.

Note: The passenger pigeon presents a striking example of how dramatic a negative influence man can have on other species. The population of the passenger pigeon is estimated to have been at one time as high as five billion in North America, but over a period of about one hundred years large scale hunting for use as food and killing for ``sport'' reduced the numbers below that necessary to sustain existence of the species. At one time over 200,000 birds were shipped to the food markets in one day. The last wild pigeon is believed to have died in 1900, and the last bird in captivity died in 1914. It is a rare example of the date of a man-made extinction being recorded with certainty.

Extinction \Ex*tinc"tion\, n. [L. extinctio, exstinction: cf. F. extinction.]

1. The act of extinguishing or making extinct; a putting an end to; the act of putting out or destroying light, fire, life, activity, influence, etc.

2. State of being extinguished or of ceasing to be; destruction; suppression; as, the extinction of life, of a family, of a quarrel, of claim.

3. Specifically: The ceasing to exist of a species of living organism, such as a plant or animal, whose numbers declined to the point where the last member of the species died and therefore no new members of the species could ever again be born.

   Note: Extinctions have occurred many times throughout the history of life on Earth, and abundant evidence of the prior existence of animals and plants are found as fossils in rock formations many millions of years old. It is believed by some that due to the influence of man on the environment and destruction of habitat, the rate of extinction of species is now higher than at any previous time on this planet. Extinctions of some animals in recent years have actually been reliably recorded, such as that of the dodo bird. A remarkable example of extinction is that of the passenger pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius) in North America, which once numbered in the billions, and the last living member of which species was recorded as dying in captivity in 191