Rare Carolina parakeet specimen set to go under the hammer – The Northern Echo

A rare juvenile specimen of the extinct Carolina parakeet is set to go under the hammer.
The bird will be auctioned by Tennants Auctioneers on April 22, as part of its Natural History and Taxidermy Sale.
This display, estimated to fetch between £15,000 and £25,000, includes a selection of North and South American birds dating from around 1880 to 1900.
Robbie Bright, natural history specialist at Tennants, said: “It is very rare to come across a specimen of the Carolina parakeet on the open market, and even rarer to find a juvenile example, which has yet to develop the distinctive solid yellow head of the adult bird.”
The display was once housed at Kilmurry in County Kilkenny, the Georgian family home of Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler.
Their diet of crops and noisy flocking also made them targets for hunters.
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After 1860, the birds were rarely seen outside Florida.
The last known wild Carolina parakeet was killed in 1904, and the final captive bird died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918.
In 1939, the species was declared extinct.
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