182 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



to the island of St. Vincent, by the West Indian hurri- 

 cane of 1898, but this is naturally extirpation on a very 

 small scale. 



Still, the problems of nature are so involved that while 

 local destruction is ordinarily of little importance, or 

 temporary in its effects, it may lead to the annihilation 

 of a species by breaking a race of animals into isolated 

 groups, thereby leading to inbreeding and slow decline. 

 The European bison, now confined to a part of 

 Lithuania and a portion of the Caucasus, seems to be 

 slowly but surely approaching extinction in spite of all 

 efforts to preserve the race, and no reason can be 

 assigned for this save that the small size of the herds 

 has led to in-breeding and general decadence. 1 



In other ways, too, local calamity may be sweeping in 

 its effects, and that is by the destruction of animals 

 that resort to one spot during the breeding season, like 

 the fur-seals and some sea-birds, or pass the winter 

 months in great flocks or herds, as do the ducks and elk. 

 The supposed decimation of the Moas by severe winters 

 has been already discussed, and the extermination of 

 the great auk in European waters was indirectly due to 

 natural causes. These birds bred on the small, almost 

 inaccessible island of Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, 

 and when, through volcanic disturbances, this islet 

 sank into the sea, the few birds were forced to other 

 quarters, and as these were, unfortunately, easily 

 reached, the birds were slain to the last one. 



From the great local abundance of their remains, it 

 has been thought that the curious short-legged Pliocene 

 rhinoceros, Teleoceras fossiger, was killed off in the West 

 by blizzards when the animals were gathered in their 



J It is reported to have been totally exterminated during the great 

 war, partly for food, and partly to show that there was no longer any 

 restraint on the people. 



