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The Passenger Pigeon:

Not very long ago, there used to be millions and millions of passenger pigeons in North America. It used to be one of the most common birds in that part of the world. They got their name because they often used to travel to new places to look for food. They flew in large flocks very quickly and efficiently. The flocks were sometimes so big, that they blocked out the sun. Passenger pigeons lived mainly in oak and beech forests. In the 1850s people began to cut down these forests to make way for farms. They used the wood for building and burning. The birds nesting places were destroyed. In addition hunters killed millions of nesting passenger pigeons each year for food for the slaves in America. These two factors along with the fact that passenger pigeons only laid one egg each spring, meant the birds died out very quickly. The last passenger pigeon was seen in 1914.

 

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