112 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



only in the absence of big terrestrial competitors, 

 mammalian or reptilian. They must also have 

 plenty of land to roam over, especially isolated 

 lands, which have no connection with big contin- 

 ents. The largest birds — ^which rank in size with 

 the largest animals — have only been developed in 

 two such places: the moa of New Zealand, and 

 the strange, oddly shaped elephant-bird (Aepyor- 

 nis maximus, signifying "the bird as big as a moun- 

 tain") in the island forests of Madagascar. 



The first discovery of the elephant-bird is most 

 interesting. Only a few years after the discovery 

 of the moas in New Zealand some natives from 

 the interior of Mauritius, for the purpose of buying 

 rum, brought several large vessels. These were 

 nothing more than enormous egg-shells. They 

 M^ere soon sent to Paris by naturalists and attracted 

 widespread attention, and, as Stejneger says, 

 "brought to mind the old story of the famous Vene- 

 tian traveller, Marco Polo, who located the rue or 

 roc, the giant bird of Arabian tales, upon Mada- 

 gascar." In a short time Professor Bianconi tried 

 to prove that Polo might have heard of these enor- 

 mous eggs, and the birds that laid them. It is lit- 

 tle wonder that every one was astonished at the size 

 of them ! They had a capacity of two gallons, and 



