s_,) which in structure seems to connect the monkeys with the
squirrels. So rare was it there that even the natives viewed it with
curiosity as an animal altogether unknown to them; and, from their
exclamations of astonishment rather than from its cry, the French
naturalist is said to have conferred upon it the name of Aye-aye, by
which it is now known. _Not a specimen, as I believe, has been seen
since Sonnerat's day_, so that, if not actually obliterated, the species
must be on the verge of extinction.

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 its race,--was obtained by Mr
Walter Mantell; and that of the Kaureke, the badger-like quadruped 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 called
_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 Lieut. Walpole, among the branches of tall
trees. Mr T. Peale, the naturalist of the U. S. Exploring 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 civilised 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
diminution of the handsome _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 _Didunculus_ 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