Saving North America's Endangered Species

Extract

This is a brief report on some of the birds and mammals that are, or have been, on the endangered list and which, in whole or in part, are under the jurisdiction of the United States Government. It describes the position up to June 30, 1958.

Species that apparently have been lost for ever include the ivory-billed woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, and the Eskimo curlew, Numenius borealis. It is believed that the last ivory-billed woodpecker was seen by a biologist of the Fish and Wildlife Service on what is known as the “Singer Tract” in northern Lousiana in 1944. Within recent years, reports have been received that there were a few of these birds in some remote swamps in northern Florida. Careful investigation by qualified ornithologists failed to confirm these reports and the refuge set up for their intended protection has been abandoned.* There has not been an authentic record of the Eskimo curlew since 1945, when two were rather reliably reported from Galveston Island, Texas.