CH. IV] FAUNA OF SANDWICH ISLANDS. 203 



with those of the Dinornis. Though these great birds 

 must have led a comparatively unharassed life in New 

 Zealand before the advent of the Maories, who are 

 probably chiefly responsible for their disappearance, there 

 were in the islands at the same time great birds of prey, 

 which might have proved able to destroy the largest 

 of Dinornithidae. These were birds now referred to the 

 genus Harpagornis, half again as large as the Golden 

 Eagle. They are believed to be most nearly allied to the 

 genus Aquila, but by some are placed rather in the 

 neighbourhood of the Kites or Falcons. As all the last 

 mentioned birds come very near to each other, the 

 affinities of the Harpagornis may be considered to be well 

 known. 



Fauna of the Sandwich Islands. 



Our information about this group of islands is growing 

 rapidly. The second edition of Mr Wallace's Island 

 Life contains a great deal more information than the 

 first edition ; and since that book was published a 

 Committee appointed to take steps for the exploration 

 of the islands have reported briefly to the British Asso- 

 ciation 1 . The islands in question are a group of largish 

 islands, 2,350 miles from the coast of America and purely 

 volcanic in structure. They have of course no indigenous 

 mammals ; there is a reptile or two ; but the birds are the 

 most remarkable and interesting. Dr Sharp states that 

 out of 78 birds found in the islands 57 are peculiar. 

 Seven or eight of the twelve or fourteen peculiar genera 

 1 Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1893, p. 783. 



