7868 



Notices of New Books. 



Extinction of Didunculus slrigirostris and Nestor producius. — 

 " Species are dying out in our own day. I have already cited the 

 interesting case of the moho, that fine Gallinule of New Zealand, of 

 which a specimen — probably the last of his race — was obtained by 

 Mr. Walter Mantell, and that of the kaureke, the badger-like quad- 

 ruped of the same islands, which was formerly domesticated by the 

 Maoris, but which now cannot be found. 



" The Samoa Isles, in the Pacific, recently possessed a large and 

 handsome kind of pigeon, of richly coloured plumage, which the 

 natives call Manu-mea, but to which modern naturalists have given 

 the name of Didunculus strigirostris. It was, both by structure and 

 habit, essentially a ground pigeon, but not so exclusively but that it 

 fed, and roosted too, according to Lieutenant Walpole, among the 

 branches of tall trees. Mr. T. Peale, the naturalist of the U. S. Ex- 

 ploring Expedition, who first described it, informs us that, according 

 to the tradition of the natives, it once abounded ; but some years ago 

 these persons, like more civilized folks, had a strong desire to make 

 pets of cats, and found, by means of whale-ships, opportunities of 

 procuring a supply ; but the consequence of the introduction of 

 'pussy' — for under this familiar old-country title were the exotic 

 tabbies introduced — was the rapid dimunition of the manu-mea. 

 Pussy did not fancy yams and taro, — the vegetable diet on which 

 the natives regaled, — and took to the woods and mountains to search 

 for something better. There she met with the feeble-winged Didun- 

 culus scratching the soft earth for seeds, and with a purr and a mew 

 soon scraped acquaintance with the stranger. Pussy declared she 

 loved him well, and so she did — too well, in fact ; she felt ' as if she 

 could eat him up' — and did. The news soon spread among the 

 tabbies that there were sweet birds in the woods, and the result is 

 the almost total disappearance of poor manu-mea. Like the dodo, it 

 has ceased to be, but at the hand of a more ignominious foe. The 

 Samoan may truly say to his former pet, ' Cecidisti, O manu-mea, non 

 manu mea, sed ungue felino.' So rare had the bird become, that 

 during the stay of the Expedition only three specimens could be pro- 

 cured, [and ^of these, two were lost by shipwreck. I do not know 

 whether another has been met with since. Probably they are all 

 gone ; for that was twenty years ago. 



" When Norfolk Island — that tiny spot on the Southern Ocean, 

 since so stained with human crime and misery — was first discovered, 

 its tall and teeming forests were tenanted by a remarkable parrot 

 with a very long and slender hooked beak, which lived upon the honey 



