136 HOW TO LEGISLATE [PART I. 



continually going on, even down to the present 

 times. In some cases the extermination of a species 

 of animals seems to be connected with a plan of 

 nature, which man can neither frustrate nor com- 

 prehend. The Apterix australis, which is defi- 

 cient in what affords to a bird its principal pro- 

 tection wings and which, from laying but one 

 egg in a season, does not multiply sufficiently to 

 make up for the loss, could not resist the effects 

 resulting from the introduction of the dog into 

 New Zealand, and is now very nearly extinct. 

 Another bird, the kakapo, which, judging from 

 some feathers which I obtained, must have been a 

 large and beautiful coocoo (Centropus), has riot been 

 seen for many years ; indeed, it is only the oldest 

 natives who have ever seen it ; and they say that 

 the cats which the Europeans brought into the 

 island have destroyed this bird, which used to roost 

 on the lower branches of trees. In other cases, 

 when man has been aware of such an extinction 

 going on, either absolutely or in a certain locality, 

 and when his interest has been roused, he has suc- 

 ceeded in counteracting the process, or at least in 

 retarding it. Thus the Bos urus, a large and pow- 

 erful animal, which in the times of Tacitus lived in 

 large herds in the countries inhabited by the Ger- 

 manic and Sclavonic nations, was nearly extermi- 

 nated in the beginning of this century, and all that 

 remained were about 500 head in a forest in Li- 

 thuania. Protection was then afforded to these 



