%^/ RECENT RESEARCHES IN FOSSIL BIRDS. 267 



as Hesperornis is closely allied to the Divers and Loons, and has no 

 sort of affinity with the Ostrich-like or Ratite birds, among which it 

 had been placed. 



The pride of the British Museum collection of fossil birds is (if 

 we except the far-famed skeleton of Archceopteryx from the litho- 

 graphic slates of Bavaria) the magnificent series of Moa bones from 

 the superficial deposits of New Zealand, this series including a 

 large proportion of the type specimens described by our veteran 

 comparative anatomist, Sir Richard Owen. There was, of course, 

 no question but that all these giant birds (the tallest of which 

 probably exceeded twelve feet in height) belonged to the great 

 Ratite group, which includes the modern ostriches, emus, and 

 kiwis ; but there has been considerable diversity of view as to 

 whether all the moas should be included in a single genus, or 

 whether they represent several generic groups. A full examination 

 of the magnificent series of moa-bones in the Museum left, however, 

 no doubt as to the absolute necessity of adopting the latter view. 

 These birds were accordingly divided into five genera, of which the 

 true long-legged moas {Dinornis) form one end of the series, while 

 the short-legged elephant-footed moa occupies the opposite position, 

 under the generic name of Pachyovnis. The intermediate, and mostly 

 smaller, modifications of the moa-type are arranged under the 

 generic names of Megalapteryx, Anomalopteryx, and Emeus. It is of one 

 of these smaller moas that the Museum possesses an absolutely 

 perfect skeleton ; while of others there are remains showing the skin 

 and dried muscles and tendons still clinging to the bones. In the 

 paper standing as No. 4 in the list given below, a somewhat dif- 

 ferent arrangement of the moas has been proposed ; and there are 

 certain points of difference in the views of the respective writers 

 which have yet to be reconciled. 



It would have been beyond the province of the work we are 

 considering to enter into any discussion of the conflicting 

 opinions obtaining as to the date at which the moas were exter- 

 minated. We may, however, take this opportunity of observing that 

 it appears to us quite clear that this event was a comparatively 

 recent one, and that if it was not brought about by the Maories 

 themselves, it must have been accomplished by the race which 

 immediately preceded them in New Zealand ; Mr. H. O. Forbes's' 

 recent researches pointing strongly to the conclusion that it was the 

 work of the Maories. 



The extraordinary profusion in which moa-bones formerly 

 occurred in various parts of New Zealand, either strewing the surface 

 of the ground, or buried in swamps, like the celebrated Glemmark 

 swamp near Canterbury, or entorpbed in the accumulations around 

 the ancient native cooking-places, have been long known. It has, 

 however, been reserved for the year 1891 to reveal what appears to 



1 Trans. New Zealand Inst., vol. xxiii., pp. 373, 375 (1891). 



