434 The Bird 
the three groups characterized by the curious elephant- 
footed, often gigantic moas, and similar birds of Mada- 
gascar, Mauritius, New Zealand, and the Papuan region, 
which have become extinct within the historic period, 
except the kiwis, to be spoken of later. All of these, 
so far as we know, laid only one egg at a time, which, 
plainly enough, was sufficient to keep the race going in 
the limited space afforded to each species by its island, 
but which did not suffice to prevent an almost immediate 
extinction of these species as soon as mankind discovered 
that the birds and their eggs were serviceable. But Provi- 
dence, or Nature, or natural selection, or whatever has 
been the ruling influence in determining means and limits 
for animal life, seems never to have taken man into ac- 
count. 
“Turning now to the sea-birds—penguins, gannets, 
murres, puffins, auks, petrels, guillemots, tropic-birds, 
and the like,—we find that none of them is in the habit 
of laying more than one egg, as all breed on such remote 
and inaccessible rocks, often in holes, that harm can 
rarely happen to their young, and therefore a very high 
percentage comes to maturity. Many of these breed in 
companies, and are so unacquainted with danger that 
they make no attempt to hide their eggs or to leave the 
nest when the place is visited by some wandering natu- 
ralist or egging party. 
“The habit of the King Penguin deserves a note to 
itself. This big Antarctic bird guards its one white egg 
from harm by carrying it somewhat as a marsupial does 
its young, in a pouch formed by a fold of the skin of the 
