Passenger Pigeon

Acrylic on USA 20 Dollar banknote

One of the most famous of all extinct birds, the passenger pigeon is considered to be the most numerous bird that has ever lived. Flocks hundreds of miles long would darken the sky and take days to pass. Hunters would shoot into these flocks and dozens would fall at once. Pigeon meat was used as a staple food for slaves on the plantations. As their forests were felled and the unrelenting hunting reduced their numbers, they were consigned to oblivion, the last bird dying in Cincinnati zoo in 1914.