Part 2

Type, a caste of the distal portion of the right tibio-tarsus, in the British Museum. The original is preserved in the Museum at Sydney and was obtained from the pleistocene cavern-deposits in the Wellington Valley in New South Wales.

A bird usually stated to be extinct is Monarcha dimidiata, from Rara-Tonga, but in March, 1901, two specimens, male and female, were procured by the Earl of Ranfurly. Doubtless this is a species which will one day vanish entirely, but at present it hardly comes within the scope of this work.

The birds known to be more or less on the verge of extinction which I have not thought advisable to give in the main part of this book might, for convenience of reference and to avoid possible controversy as to my having omitted any species, be given here, but it must be understood that of these species I only know the fact that their numbers have been greatly reduced and mostly almost to vanishing point. I have already mentioned before that some of them may already have disappeared, but in many cases recent investigations are wanting, and all, therefore, that can be said of them is that they are threatened and may soon become extinct, if they still exist.

Myadestes sibilans St. Vincent. Myadestes genibarbis Martinique. Cinclocerthia gutturalis Martinique. Rhamphocinclus brachyurus Martinique. Ixocincla olivacea Mauritius. Phedina borbonica Mascarene Islands. Trochocercus borbonicus Mascarene Islands. Oxynotus typicus Mauritius. Foudia newtoni Bourbon. Drymoeca rodericana Rodriguez. Cyanorhamphus cooki Norfolk Island. Cyanorhamphus erythrotis Antipodes Island. Cyanorhamphus unicolor Antipodes Island. Turnagra tanagra North Island, New Zealand. Sceloglaux albifacies Middle Island, New Zealand. Miro albifrons North Island, New Zealand. Miro australis Middle Island, New Zealand. Clitonyx albicilla North Island, New Zealand. Pogonornis cincta North Island, New Zealand. Hypotaenidia mülleri Auckland Island. Mergus australis Auckland Island. {xii} Nesonetta aucklandica Auckland Island. Ocydromus? sylvestris Lord Howe's Island. Puffinus newelli Hawaiian Islands. Telespiza flaviceps Hawaii. Nesochen sandvicensis Hawaii. Pareudiastes pacificus Samoa. Nesomimus trifasciatus Charles? and Gardener Island, Galápagos Islands. Phalacrocorax harrisi Galápagos Islands. Meleagris americana United States. Conurus carolinensis Southern United States. Pseudgryphus californianus California. Amazona guildingi St. Vincent. Campephilus principalis Southern United States. Pyrrhula pyrrhula murina Azores. Stringops habroptilus New Zealand. Anthornis melanocephala Chatham Islands. Gallinago pusilla Chatham Islands. Thinornis novaezealandiae Chatham Islands. Amazona augusta Dominica. Amazona bouqueti St. Lucia. Amazona versicolor Dominica. Hemignathus lanaiensis Lanai, Sandwich Islands.

Many of my readers will, I fear, find fault with me for having bestowed names on a number of forms, known only from fragments of bones, single bones, or two or three bones. Especially will they, I fear, blame me for doing this when these forms have been described by other authors who have refrained from giving names. My reasons for doing so are very simple: in such cases as Dr. Parker's species which are fully described, but quoted under the formula Pachyornis species A or Anomalopteryx species B, the danger lies in different authors using the same formula for quite other species. In the case of others, where an author fears to name a form, but gives the distinctive characters and quotes only Casuarius species or Emeus sp., unless the author and page are quoted, confusion must arise, and so in both cases I have thought it easier for reference and also more concise to name all these forms which have been described or differentiated without a binomial or trinomial appellation. I have, however, refrained from doing so in the foregoing list of Pleistocene species in the {xiii} following eight cases as I was not able to decide anything about them with the material or literature at my disposal, viz.:--

Phalacrocorax sp. Lydekker New Zealand. Anser sp. Lydekker England. Cygnus sp. Lydekker Malta. Gallus sp. Lydekker New Zealand. Gallus sp. Lydekker Central Germany. Phasianus sp. Lydekker Germany. Perdix sp. Issel Italy. Tetrao sp. Issel Italy.

* * * * *

{xv}

LITERATURE REFERRING TO EXTINCT BIRDS.

No attempt has been made to quote all books in which extinct birds have been mentioned; not only would that mean a tedious, long work, and a book in itself, but, the repetitions being so numerous, it would have been of very little use. On the other hand, I have tried to quote the most important literature referring to Extinct Birds, and I have specially been anxious to cite and verify the principal ancient literature. Well known general works on birds in which extinct species have, of course, also been mentioned, are, as a rule, not quoted; such as: The 27 volumes of the Catalogue of Birds; Brisson's Ornithology; Daubenton's, Buffon's and Montbeillard's works; Latham's Ornithological Writings; Linnaeus' Systema Naturae in all its editions; Vieillot's writings; popular natural histories and school books; Brehm's Thierleben in its various editions; Finsch's Papageien; Gray's and Sharpe's Hand-lists; Dubois' Synopsis Avium, lists of specimens in Museums, and many others, in which extinct birds are as a matter of course mentioned.

Three most complete detailed bibliographies must be named: The "Bibliography of the Didinae," forming Appendix B. of Strickland's "Dodo and its Kindred" (1848), the Bibliography of Alca impennis by Wilhelm Blasius in the new Edition of Naumann, vol. XII, pp. 169-176 (1903), and the Bibliography referring to the Moas by Hamilton, in the Trans. New Zealand Institute XXVI and XXVII (1894, 1895).

Most of the books and pamphlets quoted hereafter are in my library at the Zoological Museum at Tring, in the ornithological part of which Dr. Hartert and I have been specially interested for many years. Those books that are not in my library are marked with an asterisk, but several of these I have been able to consult in other libraries.

The chronological order appeared to be best suited to the particular subject treated of. {xvi}

1580 or 90. COLLAERT, ADRIAN. Avium vivae icones, in aes incisae & editae ab Adriano Collardo.

(On one of the plates is figured the "Avis Indica." This figure seems to have been the original of the representations in Dubois' and Leguat's works.)

1601. JACOB CORNELISZ NECK. Het tweede Boek, Journael oft Dagh-register, inhoudende een warachtig verhael, etc., etc. Middelburch, Anno 1601.

(On picture No. 2, page 7, the Dodo is figured and described as follows: "Desen Voghel de is soo groot als een Swaen, gaven hem de naem Walchvoghel, want doen wy de leckere Duyfkens ende ande cleyn ghevoghelte ghenoech vinghen, doen taelden wy niet meer naer desen Voghel." This appears to be the first mention of the Dodo in literature.)

1605. CLUSIUS. Caroli Clusii Atrebatis ... Exoticorum libri decem: Quibus Animalium, Plantarum, Aromatum historiae describuntur. Ex Officina Plantiniana Raphelengii, 1605.

(On p. 100 van Neck's Dodo is reproduced, on p. 103 the Great Auk, sub nomine "Mergus Americanus.")

1606. DE BRY. Achter Theil der Orientalischen Indien, begreiffend erstlich ein Histor. Beschr. d. Schiffahrt, so der Adm. Jacob von Neck ausz Hollandt, etc., etc. Frankf. 1606.

(Figure and mention of the Dodo.)

1619. JACOB CORNELISZ NECK. Historiale Beschryvinghe, Inhoudende een waerachtich verhael vande veyse ghedaen met acht Schepen van Amsterdam, etc., etc. Amsterdam, 1619.

(Evidently another edition of Neck's voyage of 1601. On page 5 and on Picture No. 2 (page 7), which is the same as in the other editions of Neck's voyage, the Dodo is described. There is also a French edition of 1601.)

1625. CASTLETON. Purchas his Pilgrimes. In five books.

(On p. 331, in chapter XV., first mention of the Réunion Dodo.)

1626. SIR THOMAS HERBERT. A relation of some years' Travaile.

(First mention of Aphanapteryx bonasia.)

1635. NIEREMBERG. Joannis Evsebii Nierembergii ... Historia Naturae, maxime peregrinae, libris XVI distincta. In quibus rarissima Naturae arcana, etc., etc., etc. Antverpiae MDCXXXV.