passenger pigeonn.
/ˈpas(ᵻ)n(d)ʒə ˌpɪdʒ(ᵻ)n/, U.S. /ˈpæs(ə)ndʒər ˌpɪdʒ(ᵻ)n/ A long-tailed North American pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, noted for its former abundance, rapid and sustained flight, and mass migrations.The passenger pigeon was relentlessly hunted to extinction, the last individual dying in captivity in 1914.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc.) > [noun] > family Columbidae > ectopistes migratorius (passenger)
passenger pigeon1772
1772 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 62 398 Passenger Pigeon, Faun. Am. Sept. 11. Severn River, No 63.
1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. II. 415 Passenger Pigeons visit the different parts of North America, in enormous flocks.
1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 366/2 The passenger-pigeons..have their first quill-feather as long as any of the others—a sure indication of that rapid and long-continued power of flight they are known to possess.
1894 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. III 696 Passenger-pigeon, so called in books, but in North America commonly known as the ‘Wild pigeon’,..famous in former days for its multitude, and still occasionally to be found plentifully in some parts of Canada and the United States.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xviii. 487 There have been many disappearances, often dramatically sudden, as in the case of the passenger pigeon and the great auk.
1972 G. Durrell Catch me Colobus x. 213 It was impossible, everyone thought, that the Passenger pigeon (so delicious to eat and so plentiful) could ever be exterminated.
1992 Sci. Amer. May 56/1 Ornithologists have estimated that passenger pigeons in precolonial America numbered two to three billion, making them perhaps the most abundant bird species on the earth at the time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.1772