Sauropsida: Class A.v< 



555 



sluggish and reluctant fliers, spending most of the time on the ground. 

 The New Zealand ground parrot (Stringops) has much-reduced 

 wings and a poorly developed sternum with a mere vestige of a carina. 

 The rails (Gruiformes) have moderately long legs and are good 

 runners but poor fliers. In New Zealand there are several species of 

 quite flightless rails, and some recently extinct flightless species 

 existed there. Of the same Order are the South American cariamas, 

 long-legged runners and reluctant fliers (Fig. 434). Among Columbi- 

 formes are the famous dodo (Fig. 431) and solitaire. Dutch ex- 

 plorers landing on the island of Mauritius (East of Madagascar) in 

 1598 found the island inhabited by large numbers of a "heavy-bodied, 

 short-legged," and apparently wingless pigeon-like bird somewhat 

 larger than a swan. It proved, however, to have extremely vestigial 

 wings buried under the loose plumage, but no keel on the sternum. 

 Although not good for eating, they were hunted to the point of extinc- 

 tion before the end of the seventeenth century, but immortalized in 

 ''Alice in Wonderland." A similar large bird, the solitaire, but of less 



^ 



Fig. 434. Omnia, or Burmeister's cariama, Chunga burmeisteri. (Courtesy, knowl- 

 ton and Ridgway: "Birds of the World," New York. Henry Holt & Co., Inc.) 



