Michael Oelman

Island Last in All the World

 

A man once lived alone on an island.  One day he saw a strange creature, it could neither run nor fly though it tried again and again.  So sad was this to observe that the man shot the creature, later he leant what he had done.  He had shot the last Dodo.

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With infinite care he restored the remains one night, overcome with remorse, he slipped quietly to a watery grave.

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A search party, sent to seek the Dodo came at length to the island and found, standing in a glade, the last complete example of the extinct bird (which they took away to preserve for prosperity).

‘By the last, a species is already lost.’