a decree and a fiat, coming from a quarter which none can resist. A hand is writing upon the wall; surely he that runs may read. On that day in 1642 when Abel Jansen Tasman cast his anchor into the sea off their shores, down went the Maoris; soon will they join the woolly-haired Tasmanians, whose last man only died in 1869. This they know. Shortly will the family of the Apterygidas follow Nestor productus of Philips Island, Alca impennis (the Gare Fowl of the north), and a host of others. Little did Bullock, when he chased the latter in the sounds of Papa Westra, dream of what he was doing. Less did he suspect that he was then only a blind instrument for a purposive object in working out a law—in the case of the Gare Fowl, since, alas! too well fulfilled. These departing species flutter round civilization Uke moths at a candle, or hawks over the flames at the battle of Amoaful.
The Apteryx conveys to one's mind something peculiarly mysterious; and though not yet extinct, it seems as if it ought to be. It has lingered on in a world where its place is gone. It has no business here; it lags behind. Dinornis went before; and had Apteryx been a trifle larger, it would long since have been a thing of the past. In confirmation, if any such is required, of how a smaller species can survive while a larger succumbs, I can quote a fact, coming under my own observation in May 1869, on which I sent a note to the 'Field,' which appeared on June 5. Many Swifts (Cypselus murarius) flew about Brighton in a very weak state, and were taken in numbers. Among them I saw a few Martins (Hirundo urbica), which appeared lively enough. How was this? There had been severe and unusual cold, with heavy rains for some days—a kind of glacial period. The insects in the lofty reo;ions where Swifts delight to dwell could not exist; those nearer the earth's surface, finding more warmth, were out and about. Consequently
kinds, many of them ornithic, extinct and recent. This paper (which, by his kindness, I have now before me) contains subjects of much interest. I can only here mention that 2797 objects were discovered; among them, many line Moa-bones and those of "the large Kiwi or Roa (Apteryx australis)" prove that "these birds inhabited the peninsida and its neighbourhood, from which they have now disappeared a long time."
