Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie

In his book, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers,” Utah State University English professor Chris Cokinos chronicles six vanished birds, including the passenger pigeon. Plentiful in North America during the 19th century, the birds devastated crops and settlers responded by hunting them for food. A 14-year-old farm boy shot the last known wild passenger pigeon in 1900, said Chris Cokinos, assistant professor of English at Utah State.