Passenger pigeon

A passenger pigeon Martha (named after Martha Washington), the last survivor of an American species that numbered in the millions prior to the 1880's, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Her body was donated to the Smithsonian Institution and brought to the United States National Museum, now the National Museum of Natural History, for permanent preservation. Mounted in a display case with this notation: "MARTHA, last of her species, died at 1 p.m., 1 September 1914, age 29, in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden. ", this bird documents an unhappy chapter in the conservation of wildlife.