The Nation - News from Feb. 8, 1989

The dusky seaside sparrow, a small Florida bird that became extinct despite a multimillion-dollar effort to preserve it, may not have been a true subspecies after all, but just a member of a bird family still thriving along the Atlantic coast. John C. Avise, a University of Georgia professor of genetics, said that a comparison, using modern techniques, of random samples of genes from the dusky with those of other Atlantic coast seaside sparrows shows almost no difference. However, he said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was required by law to try to protect the bird because it was officially identified as a subspecies. A Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman said experts with the agency believe it is preliminary to consider the dusky to not be a subspecies.