272 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



possibly easier conditions have continued to 

 flourish in islands. All probably would have 

 survived for ages yet to come under normal 

 circumstances; but as civilised man has spread 

 over their ancient haunts they are brought into 

 contact with new enemies, which, alas ! they are 

 showing themselves powerless to resist. Some of 

 them furnish plumes of great commercial value, 

 and this is incentive enough for the white man, 

 and even his savage representative, to penetrate 

 into their most secluded haunts, and to slay and ex- 

 terminate without moderation or mercy. Already 

 many areas once occupied by these birds are 

 depopulated, man still continues to penetrate into 

 their less accessible haunts, and sooner or later they 

 will fall from the ranks of existing species. 



Of all these birds the Ostrich (Struthio camelus), 

 is the most famous and the best known. There is 

 evidence to show that the Ostrich was formerly 

 more widely dispersed than it is now. The 

 probability is that at one time this bird roamed 

 over many of the vast deserts of South-western 

 Asia, although, so far as is known, it is now but a 

 dweller in those of Arabia, occasionally straying 

 into adjoining areas. Its great stronghold at the 

 present time is the deserts and wide treeless plains 



