CHAPTER II. 



MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 



IT is wonderful under what difficulties some wild 

 animals have managed to survive the endless warfare 

 of man against nature. Only island-dwellers have suc- 

 ceeded in utterly exterminating any species of their 

 fellow-creatures. The dodo of the Mauritius, the blue 

 parrot of the Norfolk Archipelago, and the Newfound- 

 land auk (Alca impennis] lived and perished within their 

 respective island-homes ; the New Zealand moa, too, is 

 supposed to have become extinct in recent ages, sup- 

 posed, I say, for it is by -no means certain that the 

 gigantic bones discovered by Tasman and Hochstetter 

 were not of antediluvian origin. But on the mainland 

 even the large mammals have thus far successfully 

 maintained the struggle for existence. Danger has 

 sharpened their protective instincts, and, by a wise law 

 of Nature, the very scarcity of an animal race improves 

 the life-chances of its surviving representatives. The 

 coyest female will encourage the suit of the last male of 

 her species, reduced food-stores may still supply the 



wants of a reduced number of consumers, and, above 

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