“Eagles are extinct," grumbled Morpurgo. "Perhaps they should have attacked the sky. It betrayed them.”

“You know, at times like this one feels, well, perhaps extinct animals should be left extinct.”

“If you are a sparrow, don’t attack the eagle; be wise! If you are an eagle, don’t attack the sparrow; be just!”

“I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?”

“Hope, that risky, illustrious thing. It should have gone extinct by now, but we keep it alive.”

“Hippogriff, n. An animal (now extinct) which was half horse and half griffin. The griffin was itself a compound creature, half lion and half eagle. The hippogriff was actually, therefore, only one-quarter eagle, which is two dollars and fifty cents in gold. The study of zoology is full of surprises.”