EXTERMINATED ANIMALS 3 



have to go back so far as the year 161 5 for the last evidence 

 of the existence, in a living state, of the great flightless 

 rail (Aphanapteryx) of Mauritius and Rodriguez ; while the 

 journal of the mate of the Berkeley Castle, in 1681, is the 

 last record of the dodo being seen alive. Again, the tall 

 and flightless solitaire of Rodriguez is not definitely known 

 to have been met with by Europeans after 169 1, although 

 there is some evidence to indicate that it may have lingered 

 on in the more unfrequented portions of the island till as 

 late as 1 76 1. Of the extinct geant, or Mauritian coot 

 (Legnati'a), we have no evidence of its existence subse- 

 quent to 1695 ; while our last record of the crested parrot 

 (Lophopsittacus) is as far back as 1601. The great northern 

 sea-cow {Rhytina gigas), which was only discovered on the 

 islands of the Bering Sea in the year 1741, had entirely 

 ceased to exist by about 1767. Moreover, the giant tortoise 

 of Reunion appears to have become extinct in its native 

 island previous to the dawn of the nineteenth century, 

 as was probably the case with some of the other species 

 formerly inhabiting the islands of the Indian Ocean.* 



Neither can the nineteenth century be held responsible 

 for the extermination of the South African blaauwbok 

 {Hippotragns leucophaens), a smaller relative of the roan 

 antelope, since the last known example is believed to have 

 been killed in or about the year 1799. It had always a 

 curiously restricted habitat, being confined to a small area 

 in the Swellendam district. 



On the other hand, the great auk is a bird whose loss 

 we owe to the carelessness of the naturalists of the middle 

 of the nineteenth century, for there is little doubt that if 

 protective measures had been taken in time, it might have 

 been alive at the present day. From the American side 

 * See the article in the sequel on " Giant Land-Tortoises. 



