In a previous article I noted that a Wikipedia entry on Charles Otis Whitman of the University of Chicago stated that he sent the last Passenger Pigeon named ‘Martha’ to Cincinnati Zoo in 1902. Martha died on 1 September 1914 and the species became extinct. The claim that Martha came from Whitman is not supported by some contemporary accounts but can be deduced from another. This is confusing because both accounts arose from the same source.
The 1948 Version
There is no doubt that both Whitman and Cincinnati Zoo bred Passenger Pigeons. Both were unsuccessful in maintaining a breeding stock. An account of Martha’s origins and demise, written by William C. Herman, was published in The Auk. Herman wrote:
The man who, better than anyone else, is qualified to contribute the picture of the final act of this great tragedy is Mr. Sol A. Stephan of the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in Cincinnati, Ohio (now still living at the age of 97) and from him the present writer obtained much of the information here presented.
Mr. Stephan took charge of the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in 1878, previous to which time the Zoo had Wild [Passenger] Pigeons on exhibition and had had some success in raising them in captivity. At that time there were four pairs in the aviary which had been purchased in a western locality at a cost of $2.50 per pair; and others were added to this number. At this early date, Wild [Passenger] Pigeons were still to be found in large numbers, and some had visited the beech trees on the grounds that later were taken over by the Cincinnati Zoo. Even at this time Mr. Stephan realized that the Wild Pigeon was becoming scarce. As far back as 1857 a bill to protect it had been proposed by a committee of the Ohio Senate, but no action was taken. As prices became higher, Mr. Stephan became very anxious for the preservation of the species, and he determined to breed the birds in captivity in order to have them for purposes of exhibition. Their habits were carefully observed, with special attention to the diet. He learned that they thrived best on a mixed food of cracked corn, wheat, crackermeal, cooked liver, and eggs. While recent discoveries have been made in the feeding of birds and mammals in captivity, the diet used by Mr. Stephan seemed to be adequate.
Herman then went on to describe the breeding quarters and the nesting. Each nest contained one egg and the birds bred only once a year. Stephan was reported here as having bred 14. The birds became very tame and lived for 10-15 years. Eventually he was left with two birds, one male, one female. Herman continued:
When other zoological gardens learned that the Cincinnati Zoo had the only remaining pair, they offered prices which rose from $100 to $1000 for the pair. At this time Mr. Stephan was not anxious to dispose of such a valuable asset and wisely kept them, for they attracted ornithologists and other scientists from distant parts. The female of this last pair had been hatched in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1885, and was named 'Martha,' in memory of the wife of a friend of Mr. Stephan. This female pigeon became the last survivor of the billions that in flights once darkened the sky.
Martha and her mate built but one nest, and the lone egg that she laid in this proved to be infertile. Since both birds of this last pair were so old that it was apparently impossible for them to rear any young, eggs from Martha were placed under incubating Rock Doves (domestic pigeons), in the hope that the latter might hatch and rear the young to maturity. This failed because the eggs were infertile.
The male of the pair died having been in captivity for 26 years. Martha lived on and died aged 29 (‘an unusually old age in captivity’). She was found dead. Her skin was sent to the United States National Museum in Washington, D.C. Mr. William Palmer, the taxidermist, removed the skin. Dr. Robert W. Shufeldt made an anatomical dissection and published a description of this (Auk, 32: 29-41, pls. 4-6, 1915), giving the cause of death as advanced age’.
The 1908 Version
An account of Whitman’s work with Passenger Pigeons was published in The Auk in 1908 in an article written by Ruthven Deane (1851-1934), a leading amateur ornithologist of his day. Whitman had obtained his birds, as part of his vast study of the evolution of pigeons, from a David W. Whitaker of Milwaukee. A flock of 15 had been bred from a single pair ‘of young birds which he received from a young Indian who trapped them in Shawano County in northeastern Wisconsin’ in 1888. From 1896 to 1897 Whitman bought, in dribs and drabs, the whole flock. During 1897, 9 young were hatched but only four lived. in 1998, he gave 7 birds back to Whitaker. Again eggs were layed by his birds but only 2 hatched. Gradually the flock became depleted as even fewer of the eggs hatched while adults were lost or died. By the end of 1907 all of Whitman’s Passenger Pigeons were dead. He was left with two male Passenger Pigeon x Ring Dove hybrids which he found to be infertile.
Whitaker had four live males in 1908 which died presumably over the next few years.
What is clear from Deane’s paper is that Whitman sent a female bird to Cincinnati Zoo in 1902. But then things get confusing. Deane reported:
For years we have known of the Passenger Pigeons in the Gardens of the Cincinnati Zoölogical Co., and I am much indebted to Mr. S.A. Stephan, General Manager, for the following report of their flock, in a letter written November 9, 1907.
The original flock, which came from Michigan in 1875, consisted of twenty-six birds, about half males and half females. A short time later, however, five or six of these escaped. They have bred from time to time and we have raised about twenty-three birds. In no instance has more than one egg been deposited at a time. At the present time our flock has been reduced to three, one male from the original flock, now about twenty-three years old, one male, which we raised, is about eighteen years old, and one female that we obtained from Prof. Whitman's flock in 1902, which is about twelve years old. We have never detected any particular disease which has caused the decrease of the flock, but have attributed it in most cases to old age.
Deane concluded:
The remnants of the Milwaukee and Cincinnati flocks now number but seven birds (6♂︎, 1 ♀︎) with little or no chance of further reproduction.
This is the version of the story that appeared win the world’s press after the death of the bird in 1914. Further media attention followed the publication of the paper describing the dissection of the bird at the Smithsonian by Robert Wilson Shufeldt (1850-1934) who was medically qualified. In it he wrote:
On February twenty-first, 1914, Mr. S. A. Stephan, General Manager of The Cincinnati Zoological Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote me that " Our Passenger Pigeon has been promised to the Smithsonian Institution when it dies. This bird is a female and now about 29 years old, and the last one of a flock of eight that we got in 1878." I have since learned that it was hatched in the Garden.
Shufeldt, himself a colourful character with a certain notoriety, noted two things that seem odd. First he wrote:
From Mr. Stephan, who wrote me on the 7th of September, 1914, I learn that "our female passenger pigeon died September 1st [1914] at 1 P. M. of old age, being about 29 years old." It was almost immediately packed in ice and shipped to the National Museum at Washington, D. C., where it was received in fine condition on the fourth of that month.
But external appearances were deceptive. He was with William Palmer of the museum who skinned the birds for taxidermy. Then, after a ‘late lunch’, Shufeldt began his dissection but had a surprise:
I found, on the right side of the abdomen, a slit-like opening, one-half a centimeter in length, which led freely into the abdominal cavity, and from which blood was oozing. This opening I enlarged in order to withdraw the viscera for the purpose of making a photograph of them, previous to proceeding with the dissection of the organs within. This has been my practice for a great many sears.
Much to my surprise, I found a quantity of blood (not clotted) in the abdominal cavity, and the right lobe of the liver and the intestine almost entirely broken up, as though it had been done with some instrument. As to the intestine, it was missing altogether, while the right lobe of the liver was in scattered fragments The firmer organs were apparently intact, but did not occupy their normal positions.
Later in the paper he continued:
There was no evidence whatever of the presence of the intestine in any part of its continuity save a piece about 8 mm. in length, where it emerged from the gizzard and the ragged margin surrounding the abdominal boundary of the vent. All the portion referred to was not in the abdominal cavity. The entire right lobe of the rather large liver was in a disintegrated condition, showing its internal structure, and exposing the organs usually concealed by it to view. The heart was in its normal position, while the gizzard was rotated to the left side. I discovered no blood clots or parasites of any kind in the abdominal cavity
The inference from this description and the very detailed of how the bird was received and handled at the Smithsonian is clear: somebody had done something to the specimen in Cincinnati. Had somebody poked and pulled inside the abdominal cavity with a long pair of forceps, the only way I can think of by which the whole intestine and chunks of liver could be removed through a half-centimetre slit? But who, and why?
Also of interest with respect to the alleged age of the birds is:
The feet were of a deep, flesh-colored pink, clean and healthy, while the claws presented no evidences indicative of unusual age, though not a few of wear.
Two different accounts
The reader of these accounts is therefore in some doubt as to which version, if either, is correct. Both accounts are from the same source, Sol Stephan. In 1908 he wrote that the last surviving female was one sent by Whitman in 1902. The wording in Deane’s article can be taken to imply that this was one of the birds obtained from Whitaker in 1896-7. By contrast, in Shufeldt’s and Herman’s accounts written with information supplied by Stephan after the death of the last bird in 1914, Stephan stated that the female had been hatched in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1885, was named Martha in memory of the wife of a friend, and had died aged 29.
There is a great difference in the age of the last Passenger Pigeon at death, 29, if it the one bred at Cincinnati. If we calculate from Stephan’s account from 1907, then, had the bird come from Whitman, it would have been approximately 19 at its death, much closer to the 10-15 years lifespan quoted for other birds kept in captivity.
Different accounts pre-date the bird’s death. For example, in William T. Hornaday's Our Vanishing Wild Life (1913), the bird is described as ‘twenty years old in 1912’.
A key question is of course, was possible to know the identities and history of the individual birds at Cincinnati Zoo? Were they ringed (banded in the U.S.A.)? Shufeldt made no mention of one being found at autopsy. I have looked at two photographs of Whitman’s birds that can be seen online and can see no trace of a ring.
All publicity is good publicity: A possible explanation
Salvator A ‘Sol’ Stephan was, in his younger days, a showman, working for a travelling menagerie and also as a representative for Carl Hagenbeck, the famous animal dealer of Hamburg. He arrived at the soon to be opened Cincinnati Zoo in 1875 with an elephant. Persuaded to stay on to settle in the animal, he retired 62 years later as Superintendent and General Manager. He died in 1949 aged 100.
Cincinnati Zoo had a difficult time in its early decades. It entered receivership in 1898 and in order to prevent liquidation the shareholders gave up their investments of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Then it ran as a business for two years. The Cincinnati Traction Company, hoping apparently to use it as a marketing tool for its streetcars, operated the zoo until 1917 (in some accounts 1915).
I wonder if the opportunity was taken, with the death of the last Passenger Pigeon, to make sure that the attendant publicity (for which Sol Stephan was known) showed the Zoo in the best possible light. What better than a record longevity and the local breeding and care of a bird named Martha?
On the name there is even confusion in the literature. Stephan wrote that she was named after the wife of a friend. Other secondary sources say the name is after Martha Washington, with the male of the final remaining pair as George.
I cannot think of any other explanation, other than a marked loss of memory, for the difference in accounts given by Stephan in 1907 and 1914. In other words, my take on the origins of ‘Martha’ is that she was, most likely, the bird sent to Cincinnati by Whitman in 1902. Shufeldt also remarked that the information he was given by Stephan did not tally with what he was told later:
This bird is a female and now about 29 years old, and the last one of a flock of eight that we got in 1878. I have since learned that it was hatched in the Garden.
As outlined above, I have the feeling from reading between the lines that Shufeldt was suspicious over what he was told about the age of the bird and the circumstances of its death and preservation.
Errol Fuller dealt with the story of Martha’s death in his 2014 book on the Passenger Pigeon:
The truth is that we don't actually know when Martha died, at least not with any degree of exactitude. This lack of definitive information is largely due to differing accounts given by the main keeper at the zoo, Salvator "Sol" Stephans, and his son Joseph. Both kept changing their story. One of their accounts states that Martha died in her cage at precisely one o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 1, 1914. Another suggests her death might actually have occurred some four hours later. One version of the story relays the romantic idea that she died surrounded by a group of grieving keepers. Another maintains that just Sol and Joseph were with her. Yet another is less poetic and indicates she died alone and was found lying on the floor of her cage by an assistant keeper named William Bruntz. The truth hardly matters, of course. Dead is dead.
Furthermore, any serious attempt to go through written zoo records to solve the mystery is impossible; they were destroyed by fire in 1963. What we do know is that the first day of September was a swelteringly hot day with high humidity levels; perhaps it was all just too much for a frail old bird. So what else is there? The answer is, not a lot. It seems certain that Martha was born in captivity, but where? Mr. Stephans' recollections were as varied on this subject as they were on others. Perhaps this was due to captivity, but where? Mr. Stephans' recollections were as varied on this subject as they were on others. Perhaps this was due to poor note keeping; perhaps it was forgetfulness or just a lack of knowledge concerning past events that at the time of their occurrence would have seemed unimportant.
What would happen now?
The accounts by ornithologists and aviculturists describe the failure of the faltering and early attempts at what would today be described as a captive breeding programme for a highly endangered species. A useful discussion might be had on whether, with the vast increase in knowledge of wild animal husbandry, we could have done any better in 2022. What stands out in reading the accounts is: the failure of eggs to hatch (still a major problem), which could be related to infertility, or to poor conditions for incubation; the decline in fecundity as the females aged; the degree of inbreeding. All Whitaker’s and therefore Whitman’s birds were descended from a single pair of young birds which had been hand reared. My bet is they were from the same nest. Therefore, inbreeding depression could account for some of Whitman’s findings (a phenomenon he described as ‘weakness of the germ’) and that explanation appeared in print in 1913. The group originally kept in Cincinnati was larger and therefore more genetically diverse. Nevertheless that population also declined over the years. Nutrition may also have been inadequate in captive birds. Wallace Craig recorded the behaviour of Whitman’s birds. He wrote:
A word as to the care of Passenger Pigeons, in case we may be so fortunate as to find some still living. Professor Whitman kept his in the same pen with other species, supplied with the pigeonstaples of mixed seed, grit, oyster shells, salt, and plenty of green food such as lettuce. After he had had his flock many years, he discovered that they would greedily devour earthworms, and when abundantly supplied with this delicacy the birds improved so much in health and vigor that Professor Whitman thought if only he had known of this diet early enough he might have saved his stock from dying away.
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As unsatisfactory as the different accounts of the death of what is still presumed to be the last Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) are, they are immaterial to the extinction of the species that occurred over a relatively short period. I started this series of two articles with the achievements of Oscar Riddle in discovering, firstly, the hormone prolactin and, secondly, the latter’s effect on the pigeon crop sac. Because of Riddle’s close links to Charles Otis Whitman, I became fascinated by the history of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and of those who kept and bred the bird in captivity. I still have much more to read.
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Martha's feathers were not in very good condition when she died and
her skin was not displayed by the National Museum in Washington for
many years. However, it is now on display, as described here.
Photographed in 2015 by Ph0705. |
Deane R. 1896. Some notes on the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in confinement. Auk 13, 234-237.
Deane R. 1908. The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) in confinement. Auk 25, 181-183.
Fuller E. 2014. The Passenger Pigeon. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Grant W. 1913. Recollections of the Passenger Pigeon in captivity. Bird Lore 15, 93-99
Herman WC. 1948. The last Passenger Pigeon. Auk 65, 77-80.
Shufeldt RW. 1915. Notes on the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) lately living in the Cincinnati Zoölogical Gardens. Auk 32, 29-41.
