Heath Hen Day Keeps Memory Alive

The tale of the heath hen is a Vineyard story.

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Last Heath Hen Nearly Run Down by Car on September 14th
Vineyard Gazette

That the world’s lone heath hen, Martha’s Vineyard’s most famous resident, was still alive September 13, is vouched for by Dr. John A. Phillips, president of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, who, in a letter sent out to members of the organization last week, told of almost running over a heath hen as he drove Mrs. Phillips along the Dr. Fisher road in West Tisbury, near the fire tower.

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To Preserve the Heath Hen
Vineyard Gazette

The State, acting through the fish and game commission, has under consideration the purchase of the 600-acre farm of Antone Andrews, located on the Martha’s Vineyard plain, near Little Pond some three miles from Edgartown, for the purpose of establishing on the tract a state reservation for the better protection of the heath hen, or pinnated grouse. As is well known, the few fowl of this species on the Vineyard are the last of this famous branch of the grouse family. Nowhere else in the world are these heath hen found.

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By Land and Sea, Looking to Restore a Planet in Crisis
Noah Asimow

Buried deep within the woods of the Manuel Correllus State Forest is a statue of Booming Ben, the world’s final heath hen. Once common, the species was hunted to near-extinction in the 1870s.

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Sole Survivor

A single male heath hen, almost certainly the sole survivor of its species in the whole world, showed itself this week.

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Last Heath Hen is Dead and Race is Now Extinct, Expert Observers Agree
The Vineyard Gazette

Somewhere on the great plain of Martha’s Vineyard death and the heath hen have met. One day, just as usual, there was a bird called the heath hen, and the next day there was none. How he came to his end no human being can know. But the death of wild birds is a violent death. The eye becomes dimmed, the beat of the wings lags ever so little, the star of fortune blinds for a fraction of a second it is enough. An enemy strikes and death has come.

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Heath Hen Tops De-Extinction List
Sara Brown

An effort to bring the heath hen back into existence is now the leading de-extinction project in the world, putting the Vineyard at the forefront of new technology in wildlife conservation.

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Heath Hen as Gateway Bird for De-extinction Inches Closer to Reality
Sara Brown

The first phase of a ground-breaking project to bring the heath hen back from extinction has been successfully completed, scientists said this week. The path to bringing back the bird is getting more tangible, and scientists say the heath hen could be “the gateway bird” for avian de-extinction.

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Heath Hen Project Advances Quickly
Sara Brown

A complex and groundbreaking project that aims to bring back the heath hen is advancing “at lightning speed,” scientists said this week.

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Heath Hen Debate Contains Vineyard DNA
Ivy Ashe

Bringing back an extinct species raises a whirlwind of questions — technical, ethical and financial. Would it be possible? Should it be done?

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