CHAPTER VIII
The natural history of Samoa presents much that isinteresting to naturalists, since, although at the firstcontact with Europeans the mammals were most limited,the birds peculiar to the group were numerous, and ofmany species, one of them at least being not simplyunique but original and isolated, Samoa being its onlyknown habitat, and even there it is fast becoming extinct.This bird, the now celebrated Manu Mea, or red birdof the natives, the [Didunculus Strigirostris) tooth-billedpigeon of science, is the sole known representative ofthe long extinct dodo, and as such has excited muchinterest in the scientific world. A small species ofApteryx (O le Puna'e), the springer-up , was also foundon Samoa . It is smaller than the New Zealand species,but closely resembles it otherwise. This bird also isnearly extinct.
At the time of first contact with Europeans the onlymammals found on Samoa were dogs, cats, pigs, and rats,the three former, if not the latter, having been apparentlyintroduced into the islands by the original settlers, orfrom later intercourse. Others have since been intro-duced, and have thriven well, horses, cattle, and goatsbeing now abundant.