equally flightless kiwi, the subject of a Museum group, is hardly less extraordinary, 

 and many of the other land birds are very different from their nearest relatives. There 

 is the kea, a parrot, some individuals of which have acquired the habit of pecking open 

 the backs of living sheep and feeding on their flesh; a flightless parrot that nests in 

 holes in the ground; and crow-like, thrush-like, and warbler-like birds, for each of 

 which separate families, restricted to New Zealand, have been suggested. This modern 

 bird fauna is noteworthy and becomes even more remarkable when the remains of the 

 moas, various extinct rails, and a goose, swan, and eagle, also known only as fossils, are 

 included. But this isolated fauna has suffered badly from the impact of white civiliza- 

 tion. The destruction of the original forest, the introduction of deer, the rats and 

 weasels, which are active predators, and a host of introduced birds, which acted as 

 competitors, probably all helped to bring about the extinction of many species and the 

 great scarcity of others. In Auckland at the present time the conspicuous birds are not 

 native species but rather the European skylark and blackbird and the English sparrow. 



[73; 



