144 PRIMITIVE ANIMALS 



The assistance of the horse and dog in the chase, 

 and the regular supply of food and raiment from 

 cultivated plants and herded flocks, encouraged the 

 rapid propagation of man over the habitable earth, 

 and began that conquest of the world and subjection 

 of its living inhabitants which continue with ever 

 increasing velocity and widening scope at the present 

 time. Within the period of history many interesting 

 and beautiful animals have entirely disappeared from 

 the face of the earth, and many more are threatened 

 with extinction at no distant date. Most signal and 

 conspicuous instances of extinction at the hand of 

 man are afforded by the animal inhabitants of certain 

 islands, which, until the advent of man, had dwelt 

 undisturbed in an asylum from which, on the arrival 

 of danger, escape was impossible. Of such animals, 

 the Dodo has gained a pre-eminence and has passed 

 into common language as the very symbol of extinc- 

 tion. The Dodo and the Solitaire were gigantic 

 pigeons which existed solely in the islands of 

 Mauritius and Rodriguez ; their wings were atro- 

 phied and they had completely lost the power of 

 flight, owing to the abundance of food and entire 

 absence of any enemies. The European sailors who 

 visited the islands in the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 centuries effected the destruction of the helpless 

 creatures, partly by slaughtering them for food, but 

 chiefly by introducing pigs which ran wild and 



