INTRODUCTION 



ix 



food or for sport, but also in many other ways he contributes to their destruction. 

 Some species have been exterminated by the introduction of animals of prey, 

 such as rats, cats, mongoose, etc., and we know that also the acclimatisation of 

 other birds, such as the mynah, etc., has proved to be harmful to the native birds. 

 Again we find that the introduction of domestic creatures or others kept 

 as pets has brought diseases which may prove fatal to the indigenous fauna. 

 Another means by which man causes immense destruction, is by destroying the 

 natural habitat of various species. By cutting down or burning the forests, 

 prairies, or scrub, and by bringing the land under cultivation, man indirectly kills 

 off a species through starvation, from extermination of certain insects or plants 

 on which it depends for food. Many species, such as the Moas, were evidently 

 greatly reduced in numbers by cataclysms of Nature, such as volcanic outbreaks, 

 earthquakes, floods, bush fires, etc., and then died out from what appears only 

 explicable by the natural exhaustion of their vitality. The chief cause of the 

 extermination of the Moas was undoubtedly their slaughter by the Maoris for 

 food, but in several inaccessible parts of the interior large numbers of Moa 

 remains have been found which undoubtedly had died for no apparent reason. 



This cause also seems to be the only explanation of the dying out of such 

 birds as Aechmorhynchus, Chaetoptila, Camptolaimus and others. 



The melancholy fact however remains that man and his satellites, cats, 

 rats, dogs, and pigs are the worst and in fact the only important agents of 

 destruction of the native avifaunas wherever they go. 



I have not included in the body of this work the fossil species from the 

 pleistocene of Europe, Asia, Australia and America, as I believe that these 

 belonged to an avifauna of an epoch considerably anterior to those attributed to 

 the pleistocene of New Zealand and the adjacent islands, as well as that of the 

 Mascarenes and Madagascar. I, however, give here the list of the species 

 described from the above mentioned regions which I have been able to find in 

 our literature, to serve as a guide to those who may think I ought to have 

 included them in the work itself. 



Strix melitensis Lydekker Malta. 



Vultur melitensis Lydekker Malta. 



Pelecanus proavus De Vis.... .... .... Queensland. 



Phalacrocorax sp. Lydekker .... .... New Zealand. 



Ay thy a robusta De Vis Queensland. 



Anas elapsa De Vis Queensland. 



Anas benedeni Sharpe .... .... .... Belgium. 



Alopochen pugil Winge Brazil. 



