EXTERMINATED ANIMALS 3 
have to go back so far as the year 1615 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 1691, 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 1761. Of the extinct géant, or Mauritian coot 
(Leguatia), 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 Réunion 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 
(Hippotragus leucophaeus), 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. 
