>As seed eaters, the species developed a
>fondness for cultivated fruits and grains that made it unpopular
with
>farmers who relentlessly killed them. The species was also hunted as
a
>game bird (a dozen were reported to "make a most delicious
sea-pie"),
>shot as a target, killed for its feathers, and netted for sale as a
cage
>bird...The species behavior contributed to its rapid demise.

Which species' behavior? Homo sapiens?

>In the case of the Carolina Parakeet, it appears that extinction
>resulted from various changes in the species' environment caused by
>Euro-Americans. Rapid habitat destruction through land-clearing for
>agriculture combined with eradication efforts by farmers and
orchardists
>led to a decline of the species that was exacerbated by the cage
bird
>trade and scientific collecting. The extinction of a successful
species
>like the parakeet and the pigeon are symptomatic of far more
fundamental
>ecological changes than are extinction of relatively rare species
such as
>the Great Auk. The demise of both the Carolina Parakeet and the
>Passenger Pigeon at approximately the same time demonstrates that
Euro-
>American colonization of the continent produced fundamental and far-
>reaching environmental effects.

After reading this, I can't help but think that David Doyle (Mr. Deep
Ecology) has a point. Several of them, in fact...

Beth Menig
Arlington, WA