The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-06-09


men out and spend 9 great deal of money
in securing news; but the general aver
age will be about what | have stated" y
{. 4. Dana.
ANIMALS EXTINCT.
That the early man is responsible in a
greater or less degree for the extinction
Of the mammoth there can be but little
doubt. From the earliest times the re-
mains of these elephantine giants have
been found in the North. One of the
most important discoveries was made at
the mouth of the Lena River, Siberia, at
the beginning of the present century
A fisherman observed the monster pro-
jecting from the frozen ground of tundra.
Each successive year it became more ex-
posed, and finally fell upon the sand as
perfect as though it had died week be-
fore, although in the estimation of some
naturalists the last mammoth S death
occurred at least a million of years ago.
| The body was somewhat damaged by
bears and foxes, but the SHELTON and part
of the hair were preserved and are now
in the museum at St. Petersburg.
Another mammoth was unearthed by
a land slide in 1899 on the shore of a
lake near the mouth of the Ienisei. 1t
was extremely perfect, and, according to
the natives, black tongue (the trunk ?)
as long as a month old reindeer calf was
hanging out of his mouth. In 1912 it
was secured by a merchant, but had been
| badly torn. The remains of mammoths
are common near the shores of the Polar
Sea. and especially on the New Siberian
Islands, which appear to be vast bury
ing-ground for these monsters.
In 1142 Behring's Island was inhabited
by herds of sea-cows, or manatees that
attained the enormous growth of twenty.
five or thirty-llve feet and weighed five
or six tons. They were of a dark brown
color, streaked with srayish or light
stripes; the skin was thick and leathery.
| Vast herds of them were discovered by
Steller, who, with shipwrecked crew,
visited the island in 1142. They We're
found feeding upon the fields Of seaweed
that skirted the shore, and when attack
ed showed a remarkable attachment for
one another. Warfare was waged against
them by all corners, with such effect that
twenty seven years later they were nearly
extinct, and now not one exists.
The extinction of the great aux is I'M
doubtedly due in a great measure to man.
In 1894, Nuttall wrote: CAS- diver he
is unrivalled, having almost the velocity
of birds in the air. They breed in
the Farce Islands, and in Iceland,
Greenland, and Newfoundland, nest
ing among the cliffs, and laying but
one egg each. They are SO unprolitic
that if this egg be destroyed no other is
laid during the season." Now, fifty
years later, there is not a single living
species. The great aux was commonly
known as the care fowl, and the last
living specimens We're killed in 1914 at a
group of islands called Funglasker, off
the southwest coast of Iceland.
The disappearance of the gigantic
pigeon like bird, Didus iheptus. commonly
called the dodo, is no less remarkable.
When the Portuguese, under MaScarene-
as, in the sixteetnth century, discovered
Mauritius, the bird was extremely COM
mon there. The dodo was sent to Eu-
rope many times alive. Finally they to-
| tally disappeared-a few pictures, a foot
in the British Museum, head and a foot
at Oxford, a perfect skull at Copenhagen
and fragmentary piece at Prague, be-
| ing all that is left to attest the reality
of the existence of the king of pigeons.
To the south of Mauritius lies small
island, Reunion, formerly the home of a
large bird known as the solitaire, now
extinct. In Reunion, starling-Fregi-
npus-with beautiful crest, existed un-
| til forty-tive years ago, when it became
extinct. In Rodrigues nearly the entire
original arJauHa has disappeared, in
Guiding large heron, small and ex-
tremely peculiar owl, a parrot, dove
and several other birds.
\ parrot (NestOr pr0ductUs) has re-
Gently become extinct at Phillip Island,
near New Zealand.
| That the gigantic moa was extirpated
by man is proved also by the Maori ira
ditions, which tell of the great birds, and
the songs that extol the magnificence of
their plumage and the skill of their hum
tiers, who ate the birds, reserving their
wonderful plumes as decorations
In 1871, Mr.. Walter Mantell found the
remains of a bird mixed with those of
the moa at Waingongora, New Zealand.
| 1t was named the NOt0rnis, and described
| by Professor Owen as a gigantic extinct
rail. Mr.. Mantell came upon some
fishermen who, in searching for seals,
had found the track of strange bird,
which they captured, after long chase,
in gully on Resolution Island. 1t fought
violently, uttering loud screams 1t was
two feet high, green, and golden tints.
The sealers had eaten the bird, pronounc-
ing it delicious; and to this fact it prob
ably owes its extinction.
In 1896, Ledrus gave list of fourteen
kinds of birds observed by him on the
island of st. Thomas and st. Croix; and
now, eighty seven years later eight of
these have become extinct.
According to NJ. Guion, there were at
no distant period six species of PSittaci
On the islands of Guadalupe and Mar
Unique, which are now exterminated.-
LippincoH.
Josh Billings on Marriage.
History holds it's tung as to who the
pair wuz who first put on the silken har-
ness and promised to work kind in it
thru thick and thin, up hill and down,
on the level, swim, drown or float. But,
| whoever tina WIZ tina must have made a