ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS ii 



because their remains have been carefully 

 studied by Owen and others, but their previous 

 existence lingers in the traditions of the Maori 

 people themselves, a race now almost as extinct 

 as the huge birds with which it was contem- 

 poraneous. Taking into account the compara- 

 tively restricted area 'to which they were 

 confined, these birds must have been not only 

 numerous in species but in individuals ; whether 

 these giant birds attained such a development 

 in such narrow geographical limits is yet a 

 moot question. Moas were either destitute of 

 wings or possessed them in a rudimentary or 

 functionless condition only. This helplessness 

 unquestionably contributed to their rapid ex- 

 termination when savage man appeared upon 

 the scene. How long they lingered we have no 

 reliable means of ascertaining, although Hutton 

 considered that they became extinct between 

 300 and 500 years ago. 



Of little less interest are the extinct ^pyor- 

 nithes of Madagascar, perhaps chiefly because 

 they are generally believed to be the Rocs of 

 Arabian romance. If this be so it shows how 

 even the wildest fable may rest upon a more or 

 less complete foundation of fact. Even to this 

 day some of the inhabitants of that African 



