More on "Wild Musick"

The quote below is from Tim Flannery's book  The Future Eaters:  An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People, And I found it via iWild blog

“I would gladly remain ignorant of the joy of the Haka, or even the heart-stopping beauty of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing Songs of the Auvergne, for the privilege of waking to a symphony of ‘the most tuneable silver sound imaginable’.  [New Zealand’s] multitudes of birds performed that symphony each dawn for over 60 million years.  It was a glorious riot of sound with its own special meaning, for it was a confirmation of the health of a wondrous and unique ecosystem.  To my great regret, I arrived in New Zealand in the late twentieth century only to find most of the orchestra seats empty.  Walking through the ancient forest, whose still-living trees were once browsed by moa, I heard nothing but the whisper of leaves blowing in the wind.  It was like the rustle of the last curtain fall on an orchestra that will be no more.”