[In] The Silent Sky we are given, in highly sentimental prose, yet another account of the last days of the Passenger Pigeon. The author prefers to describe his book as "a novel." It is written from the point of view of the Pigeons and what they endured; Mr. Eckert allows his feelings full play when describing what he imagines to have taken place; nor does he spare his readers when painting afresh the lives of persecution the birds endured….

For those who like to be harrowed by tales of untold misery … there is plenty to satisfy them in Mr. Eckert's book. But for those who prefer facts to fiction, there are other less imaginative accounts available of what we can only describe as terrible tragedy and a blot upon our so-called civilization. With Mr. Eckert's indignation we can, however, warmly sympathize.

David Bannerman, "Birds of America," in The...