EXTERMINATION IN ANIMAL LIFE. 409 



for the destruction of 871 Emus, over one million of marsupials, 

 65,000 Hares and Eabbits, 11,530 Dingoes, 3502 Eagle hawks, 

 and some other marauders. From a back number of the ' Syd- 

 ney Morning Herald ' it appears that in the year 1888 upwards 

 of ten thousand Emus were destroyed in one district alone, 

 while in the same period fifteen hundred of their eggs were 

 broken on one estate.* The Lyre-bird of Australia, which lays 

 but one egg each season, is doomed by the possession of a 

 magnificent tail. Mr. Aflalo states : — " Not long since, for 

 example, two enterprising brothers employed a number of men 

 to shoot the luckless male birds, in which, after some practice, 

 they were unfortunately so successful that five hundred dozen of 

 the beautiful tails were reported to have reached Sydney in the 

 course of a few weeks.! Of the Moas of New Zealand, some 

 authorities consider that they were killed off by the race which is 

 believed to have inhabited New Zealand before the advent of 

 the Maoris.]: The Mamo, a honey-sucker (Drepanis pacified), 

 restricted in its range to the Pacific Islands, and now apparently 

 extinct, has had a cause of its disappearance suggested by 

 Mr. Scott Wilson. He saw some of the celebrated feather 

 wreaths, or " leis,' of the natives composed of yellow feathers 

 taken from this bird, and from the fact that the Hawaiian name 

 of the bird " Mamo " is the same as that of the costly war-cloaks, 

 he concludes that the robes in olden times were chiefly wrought 

 of the beautiful golden-yellow feathers from its back, which are 

 much deeper in colour, as they are larger and longer, than the 

 axillary tufts of the O-o (Moho nobilis). As only a few feathers 

 on each bird were used, it may be imagined how many thousand 

 birds it required to furnish the feathers of a single robe, and it 

 is a greater wonder that there were enough birds than that the 

 species of the brighter colour became extinct. Small bunches of 

 these feathers were received by the kings as a poll-tax from the 

 lower classes of the people, but there were not enough, so the 

 chiefs used to have " a regular staff of birdcatchers who were 

 expert in this vocation. "§ 



* Cf. Aflalo, 'A Sketch Nat. Hist. Australia,' p. 104. 

 f Ibid., p. 131.— Cf. also ' The Emu,' v. p. 57 : " Notes on the Victoria 

 Lyre-bird (Menura victories)" by A. E. Kitson. 

 | Lydekker, 'Phases of Animal Life,' p. 152. 

 § Cf. Lucas, ' Rep. Nat. Mns. Washington,' 1891, p. 628. 



