h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"I wonder if there's an article on that just to link to" if you can one, you're doing better than me - can't find anything that summarises nicely. It's all too detailed, species specific or buried in lists of other biodiversity threats.
Waz

Very interesting.

Rather than put a paragraph tag starting at "Due to Tibbles' expert mousing skills", finishing at "and certainly senseless, execution" and including the blockquote, you should enclose the two separate paragraphs in their own tags and leave the blockquote to its own devices:


Due to Tibbles' expert mousing skills, or indeed 'birding', the wren colony on Stephens Island, perhaps a total of ten mating pairs, was actually extinct within the year it was discovered! In fact, so successful was Tibbles in her apparent genocide that the 'Christchurch Press' reported in 1895;

...there is very good reason to believe that the bird is no longer to be found on this island, as it is not known to exist anywhere else, it has apparently become quite extinct. This is probably a record performance in the way of extermination.

The lighthouse cat had single-handedly (or paw-edly, if you prefer) disposed of the bird, a feat exasperating in its quick, and certainly senseless, execution.


It was only sensless, btw, in that cats don't have the capability for higher thinking - Tibbles was just doing what comes naturally. For a cat.

"The wrens that made up Tibbles nighttime entertainment"
Oh gawd, I always get mixed up with this. It should be either 'Tibbles' nighttime' or 'Tibbles's nighttime' since 'Tibbles' is the cat's name and singular, not plural, even though it sounds like it, and Tibbles is possessive of the entertainment. According to this A790175 it looks as if either version is acceptable

It's not strictly protocol to do this but I want to avoid any confusion, so I have to correct a couple of Straighttalker's corrections:


*at the time, and a duly*
'at the time and a duly'

"The discovery quickly found its way to Sir Walter Buller, New Zealand's ornithological expert at the time, and a duly excited Buller reported the find to the British Ornithologists’ Club in London."
That's the correct punctuation because the part inside the two commas is an aside, and if it's removed the sentence still makes sense.


*ten mating pairs, was actually extinct*
'ten mating pairs were actually extinct'

"Due to Tibbles' expert mousing skills, or indeed 'birding', the wren colony on Stephens Island, perhaps a total of ten mating pairs, was actually extinct within the year it was discovered"
Same thing - an aside between two commas, and the sentence is referring to the colony rather than the individual birds, so the singular 'was' is the correct reference. However, I don't think it's good to have more than one aside in such a short sentence, and I'd be inclined to put 'or indeed 'birding'' in brackets. The word 'actually' is a bit superfluous, I think.


*its quick, and certainly*
'its quick and certainly'

"The lighthouse cat had single-handedly (or paw-edly, if you prefer) disposed of the bird, a feat exasperating in its quick, and certainly senseless, execution."
And again. Also, I think the comma after 'bird' should be either a hyphen or a semi-colon.


"*entertainment were, before becoming extinct like the Dodo*
'entertainment were, before becoming extinct, like the Dodo'"

"The wrens that made up Tibbles nighttime entertainment were, before becoming extinct like the Dodo of Mauritius, thought to have originated from a time when Australia and Antarctica made up the ancient landmass known as Gondwanaland."
I think that's okay as it is.

Yes, I think that the Hunting of the Wren on St Stephen's Day is such an interesting coincidence that you must include it

May just be worth amplifying it by saying s'thing like,' One of the most popular explanations for this is that St. Stephen, was hiding from his enemies in a bush, but was betrayed by a chattering wren. Following this, the wren, like St. Stephen, should be hunted down and stoned to death.

This is the subject of Mumming plays, so you could link to A655526. <smiley

I can't recall now, but did you say it's an English tradition? I believe it's more Irish than English, although it is performed a lot in the West Country. Maybe say that it's a British tradition

Ah Yes, you did say it's British

Thank you all for the input, I think I've rectified all the problems and included all the suggestions now

Oops - A10971371

So you can finds it easier

I agree an ideal h2g2 entry.

Mckay

Great stuff, MJ!

A couple of paragraphs that may be of interest:

'A paper by R. Galbreath and D. Brown of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand argues that the extinction of the wren was not quite as dramatic as the usual tale goes. The paper states that specimens of the Stephens Island Wren were discovered all the way until 1899, and that Stephens Island was inhabited by several cats after 1894, sparing Tibbles from bearing the guilt all by itself.

All the more reason to agree with Sir Walter Buller's sentiment in 1905, however:

And we certainly think that it would be as well if the Marine Department, in sending lighthouse keepers to isolated islands where interesting specimens of native birds are known or believed to exist, were to see that they are not allowed to take any cats with them, even if mouse-traps have to be furnished at the cost of the state.'
(from http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1730300)



The wrens were believed to have been eradicated from the rest of New Zealand specifically by the Maoris, who introduced the Maorese (sp?) rat to the country, rather than a 'range' of predators.

Hope this helps

SkRich Have incorporated that info into the Entry, nice quote from Buller!

No probs

Could I suggest, though, that you tell the story as it is best known and add the bit about Tibbles perhaps not being solely responsible below the quote? Casting doubt on the 'one-animal extermination' at the same time as mentioning it seems to detract from the tale a little in my view. Up to you, as ever

Ah, good point Sorted

just wondering,

Tibbles killed 10 breading pairs - so 20 birds.

Surly a species can't exist somewhere with just 10 pairs, for a long length of time. Were have the rest gone ?

hence the use of the word 'perhaps' in the sentence

that sounded a bit offish, but there is a bit of conjecture about the actual amount of wrens on the island and whether Tibbles did kill them ALL, but I think I covered that in the Entry (in footnotes or otherwise )

Anyway, anymore for anymore?

Your link to 'Earth' at A18541 could be confusing to a Newbie, when confronted by a blankish page. Perhaps go straight to A482933?

<> Dunno why, just sounds better to me if it was 'hunting ground' - real nit-picking there!!

<> Do they still do it? If they do, past tense doesn't seem appropriate. If they don't 'every' suggests that they do, if you get my drift...

Apart from that, I reckon it's pickable!!

Cheers D3

Have tweaked those little bits, but I'm going to leave the Earth link as is - because I want to (besides, it links through to the newer Entry )

The Earth link will need to be changed though. There's no point in linking through the the 'Mostly Harmless' entry when it's only there to stop other people submitting the same thing.

So if you could fix that Eatrh link, we can accept the entry.

Done.

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