[mou] Last Minnesota Passenger Pigeon

[Anthony X. Hertzel]

>Does anyone know the date that the last Passenger Pigeon was seen in MN?
>Or, does anyone know where I could go to find it?

As Manley Olson pointed out, Roberts lists 1895 as the last known 
Minnesota sighting, though he gives no precise date. The bird was 
seen and collected 21 June 1895 in Minneapolis. There were two 
additional published reports after this one which Roberts does not 
mention. The complete record of Minnesota sightings since 1890 is as 
follows:

	   June 1890, Minneapolis, Hennepin County (Emerson 1905).
	9 April 1891, Hastings, Dakota County Wilcox 1892).
	 August 1891, Root River, county unknown (French 1919).
	 Spring 1893, Hickory, Aitkin County (Gault 1895).
	 12 May 1894, Hickory, Aitkin County (Gault 1895).
	20 June 1894, Hickory, Aitkin County (Gault 1895).
	21 June 1895, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, (Jones 1897).
	7 April 1901, Jackson, Jackson County (Knox 1905).
	 Spring 1906, Cloquet River, St. Louis County (Lattin 1906).

With regard to the two records that come after Roberts' last accepted 
date, this is all I know:

John Cowing Knox, who reported the 1901 sighting, was a keen and 
qualified observer whom Roberts trusted. Knox had seen Passenger 
Pigeons during the preceding decade and was well qualified to 
identify them (and Roberts was aware of this). It is possible that 
Roberts was unaware of the 1901 record since it was published in an 
obscure journal and Knox died a short time later.

Frank Lattin was not from Minnesota and it is most likely that 
Roberts, who subscribed to the journal that published Lattin's 
account of the sighting, simply dismissed the record out of hand.

Note that Roberts states in "The Birds of Minnesota" that "the last 
authentic Minnesota record was in 1895." Here Roberts is almost 
certainly speaking of specimens when he says "authentic" and it is 
likely that he would not have accepted any record after this date 
without one.

Literature Cited

Emerson, W. Otto. 1905. The Passenger Pigeon Nesting in Minnesota; A 
Sketch of a Nesting Site Drawn from Memory. The Warbler 1:74-76.


Tribune Company. Altoona, PA. 257 pp.


Minn., with a Recent Record for Northeastern Illinois. The Auk 12:80.




the Home and School 1(6):118.



Wilcox, Burton T. 1892. Report on Ornithology. Annual Report of the 
State Horticultural Society 20:364-366.

-- 
Anthony X. Hertzel -- axhertzel@sihope.com