184 
for many }'ears his direct attacks. They would doubtless have 
become more shy, and have retired to the most secluded parts of 
the island they inhabited. They might even have acquired greater 
wariness, and been enabled in some manner to baffle his pursuit. 
Lut they had not to contend Avith man alone. He had allies 
fighting against them.” What these allies Avere the authors tell 
us further on : “ We mean the Hog, Avhich Ave cannot but believe 
Avas the principle agent in destroying the Dodo in l\[auritius, 
though, so far as Ave are aAvare, the efficiency of this agent of 
destruction has not been sufficiently appreciated by former Avriters. 
It has been ahvays so universal a practice to liberate Pigs in 
countries iieAvly discovered by Europeans, that Ave cannot suppose 
any exception to have been made in the case of Eodriguez, and at 
almost every place Avhere these omnivorous animals have been set 
free Ave knoAv them to have speedily increased and multiplied, 
replenished the earth, and in most cases to haA'-e subdued it.” 
Leguat states that Avhen in September, 1708, the Erench 
expedition, in Avhich he took a part, touched at the Mauritius, so 
numerous Avere the droves of Wild Boars “ on the other side of 
the isle beyond the mountains,” that not long before their arrival 
a general hunting had been ordered to root them out, and that in 
one day above 1500 of them Avere slain. “It is plain,” say the 
Messrs. NeAvton, “ that inactive birds could not long be inhabitants 
of an island swarming Avith feral SAvine. It is, perhaps, possible to 
imagine a venerable Dodo, capable of assuming sufficient dignity to 
disconcert an impetuoixs Hog, but the awe of the latter once 
dispelled by any mark of resentment, the result Avould be the same 
as Avhen the Eoman Senator provoked the fury of the Gaulish 
soldiers; Avhile tlie more helpless part of the community Avould 
rapidly fall victims, young birds and eggs being inevitably traced 
to destruction by the unerring poAver of scent possessed by the 
riotous neAV-comers ” (Z. c. p. 354, note). That the Pig is no less 
predaceous in the present day than the authors of the interesting 
remarks from Avhich I have quoted so largely depict it I need 
hardly affirm ; but a curious instance is given in Moseley’s ‘Voyage 
of the Challenger,’ in Avhich a change in the nesting habits of a 
bird has probably saved it from extermination in one particular 
locality. On visiting Inaccessible Island (Tristran da Cunha) the 
Avild Pigs Avere found to feed, not only on the root of the Tussock- 
