198 
A DICTIONARY OF BIRDS. 
Besides the descriptions of particular genera or species of birds, 
there are articles on more general matters. The most important are 
those on “Colour,” “Eggs,” “Extermination,” and “Flight,” the 
latter by Professor Roy, a colleague of Professor Newton at Cam¬ 
bridge. These articles are admirably written, especially that on Eggs, 
which is a most charming essay on the subject. It is not possible or 
desirable to abstract them except in the case of that named last but one ; 
of this we will attempt some account. Extermination, when due to 
natural and inevitable causes, is bitter enough to true naturalists, 
but it is doubly so when brought about by the wanton destruction 
of creatures, whether for food, ornament, or museum specimens. 
The number of species exterminated through this cause or owing 
to the presence of foreign species introduced and acclimatised, is 
scarcely credible ; the following are among those which have 
disappeared during the last 200 years or so :—The Dodo, Crested 
Parrot, a Dove, a large Coot, and Aphanapteryx from Mauritius ; a 
Dodo-like bird, and Crested Starling from Reunion ; the Solitaire, 
an Owl, Parrot, Dove, Heron, and Rail from Rodriguez ; six kinds 
of Parrots from Guadeloupe and Martinique ; the Gare-fowl or 
Great Auk from the North Atlantic ; the Pied Duck from Labrador; 
the Great Cormorant from Bering Island ; many of the birds from 
New Zealand, which have been destroyed both by foreign birds 
acclimatised there by man, and by carnivorous mammals introduced 
to keep down the rabbits, in which object they have utterly 
failed ; many birds of the Sandwich Islands have also been 
exterminated through similar causes ; the Crane, Spoonbill, and 
many wild-fowl and birds of prey have utterly vanished from 
the British Isles, or have been very greatly reduced in numbers ; 
in Siberia the Bearded Vulture has been completely exterminated 
for the sake of its feathers ; the Francolin has disappeared from 
Europe ; one of the Petrels from Dominica, and in the same island 
the “John-Crow” Vultures have become much fewer. From 
many places, such as the West Indian Isles, traditions show 
that numerous birds have disappeared; apparently they are 
utterly lost to knowledge. That many birds have been and 
are doomed to extinction, owing to the drainage and cultivation of 
September, 1893. 
