24 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



which has been gathered from the Maoris, there 

 seems little or no reason to doubt that their 

 ancestors were well acquainted with these huge 

 birds in a living state, and that at one time the 

 Moas frequented both islands in abundance. The 

 Maoris hunted them for food, and as the birds 

 must have been comparatively helpless, and 

 possibly of low fecundity, the improvident natives 

 eventually exterminated them, shortly before the 

 arrival of civilised man in New Zealand. Possibly 

 another instance of avine extermination by savage 

 man is presented by the Mamo {Drejoanis i^cicijica), 

 of the Sandwich Islands, that is said to have been 

 killed for its yellow plumage, which was used to 

 embellish the state robes of chiefs. We are also 

 informed by Dr. Forbes, that since the Chatham 

 Islands were colonised by Maoris and Europeans 

 some fifty years ago, the birds have lamentably 

 decreased in number, and the constant persecution 

 of every sort of bird and living thing by the 

 natives is producing the certain extermination of 

 all the indigenous species. But the natives in this 

 case may only be following the white man's 

 example, or tempted by the price which is often 

 offered for a rare bird by collectors. The Moas 

 undoubtedly owed their extinction to the Maoris, 



