Image ID 108546 Premium Services      Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) Hand-colored lithograph after John James Audubon From: J. J. Audubon, The Birds of America: from drawings made in the United States and their territories. Vol. 5 of 7 (New York; Philadelphia, 1840–44) NYPL, George Arents Collection of Books in Parts

When Audubon painted these Passenger Pigeons in 1824, they were the most numerous birds in the world. According to his estimation, there were a billion birds in a single flight, which lasted for three days and stretched over hundreds of miles, blotting out the sun as the enormous flocks passed overhead. Yet by the end of the century, the birds were gone, victims of forest destruction and senseless slaughter. The last Passenger Pigeon, "Martha," died in the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914.

Audubon’s illustration appeared first in 1827–38 in the large-format engraved edition of Birds of America, known as the "double-elephant folio," and then in the small (10 1/4" x 6 1/2") lithographed edition.