Great Auk
The Great Auk was hunted so extensively for its down that by 1775 Canada banned hunting the great auk for its feathers or eggs, and in 1794 Britain also banned the killing of this species for its feathers. It was still legal to hunt the birds for food and for bait for fishing. A pair, found incubating an egg on the island of Eldey off the coast of Iceland, was killed there on 3 June 1844, on request from a merchant who wanted specimens, and the egg smashed. The pair is thought to be the last of the Great Auks, although in 1852 there was a claimed sighting on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.