As the last major land mass to be settled by people, New Zealand has suffered one of the most severe but perhaps best documented extinction cascades during the two thousand years since first human contact. This book tells the story of New Zealand's birds, mammals, reptiles and frogs, from their Gondwanan origins to the arrival of the first rats, then people and their camp followers. Flight of the Huia reviews the way our attitudes to and management of conservation have changed during this time and concludes with a debate on future directions for conservation of this now much altered fauna. The book is the first to present a history of faunal change in New Zealand and a review of the ecology and conservation of those animals.