THE EXTERMINATION OF AMERICA'S BIRD FAUNA. 3 



sometimes, very suddenly — died out and became utterly extinct, 

 until but a mere suggestion of them are now in existence, and 

 these only of a very few kinds, as in the case of the ostrich 

 forms, the kiwis, certain marine species, and such ornithic char- 

 acters as occur in the Australian Duckbill, which point, in fact, 

 to its avian relationships. For the rest, they, in due course, 

 became completely modernized ; assumed a complete coat of 

 feathers or structures resembhng them; lost all their teeth, and 

 became, structurally speaking, bipedal. 



It is quite unhkely that man — as man — existed any- 

 where on the globe at the time when many true birds of various 

 genera and species had evolved; so, as a Class of animals, it 

 did not at the outstart of its evolution have this, the arch enemy 

 of its kind, to contend against. Doubtless the raptorial species 

 among them preyed upon others, and they had numerous ene- 

 mies among other groups of animals, such as certain reptiles 

 and mammals. Notwithstanding all this, birds became more 

 and more differentiated from other groups; while, at the same 

 time, they became wonderfully numerous in nearly all parts of 

 the world, — being represented by hundreds of different families 

 and a great many suborders. So that, when man in any num- 

 bers appeared upon the scene, untold millions upon millions of 

 birds existed all over the Earth. They were only absent, per- 

 haps, in the extreme polar regions, — that is, within the north 

 and south polar circles. Sea-birds and water-fowl with millions 

 of waders swarmed on islands everywhere; while the tropical 

 and temperate zones were filled — as to their mountains, their 

 plains and their forests — with many, many species of birds. 



Early man probably only captured certain kinds for food, 

 or for their feathers, which latter he used but sparingly for 

 ornament and for a few other purposes. At first, the number 

 of birds destroyed by earliest man must have been quite in- 

 significant, and in no way equal to the thousands destroyed by 



