224 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is only just to the New Zealand Government to point out that 

 several years ago the provisions of the ' Wild Birds Protection Acts ' 

 were extended so as to include some species that were being destroyed 

 indiscriminately and Little Barrier Island and Resolution Island have 

 been set apart as bird preserves. 



Sir Walter goes on to point out that there is just a chance that, in 

 the course of time, some of these vanishing species may learn to adapt 

 themselves to the new conditions of things, and take a fresh lease of life. 

 The tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris) , a native of the 

 Samoan or Navigator Islands, was supposed to be rapidly becoming 

 extinct, as its terrestrial habits rendered it an easy prey to predatory 

 animals, such as cats and rats, introduced into the islands from Euro- 

 pean vessels; but late accounts show that it has changed its habits, 

 feeding or resting exclusively on large trees, and that it is now increas- 

 ing in numbers. Commenting on this, Professor Newton says: 



It is in this way, through the struggle for existence, that habits which have 

 been transmitted from parent to offspring through unknown generations are 

 suddenly abandoned, and entirely opposite ones adopted that give the needed 

 protection to life and continued prosperity, which the inherited methods no 

 longer are able to secure. 



Now, singularly enough, the whitehead (Clitonyx albicapilla) was forty 

 years ago the commonest bird in the North Island, and at that time 

 a strict inhabitant of low scrubby vegetation, where its habits were 

 gregarious. For many years it seemed to have become extinct, Mr. 

 Reischek, during several years' hunting in the Auckland woods never 

 having met with a single example. During the last few years it has 

 reappeared, but in an entirely new character, as the frequenter of the 

 highest tree-tops, and it appears to be sensibly increasing. On the 

 Little Barrier, however, where it has never been much disturbed, it still 

 continues to frequent the low vegetation. 



If so marked a change is apparent on a large land surface like New 

 Zealand, how much more rapid and effectual must be the change in 

 small islands. There is an interesting example of this in the Hawaiian 

 group. In 1890 a committee was appointed by the British Association 

 to investigate the zoology of those islands. The committee secured the 

 services of Mr. Pi. C. L. Perkins, who has proved himself to be a most 

 efficient collector; his investigations prove that quite a noticeable 

 decrease in the indigenous fauna is taking place each season. The 

 district around Honolulu was perhaps originally the richest in endemic 

 forms, but now introduced forms are in vast preponderance; the dis- 

 tinctive fauna of the plains, if there was one, has quite disappeared. 

 Captain Cook found certain birds, for example, near the shore ; of these, 

 some are extinct, and others are to be found only in the mountains. 



