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a soft shining silky down for the basal third of its length, 

 and then narrowing rapidly towards the extremity, which 

 is a single shaft with hair-like webs at the sides. 



The birds of this ftimily acquire additional interest 

 from their obvious relationship with the extinct gigantic 

 birds of New Zealand known by the name of Moa, one 

 species of which must have stood nearly as high as the 

 Giraffe. The bones of these giants of the feathered 

 creation examined by Professor Owen are not fossil, and 

 it is supposed that the last of the race has not been dead 

 many years, the genus, like the Dodo, having been exter- 

 minated by the natives at a very recent period. Frag- 

 ments of egg-shells have been found in some quantity in 

 the detritus brought down by rivers ; and the aborigines 

 not only say that their fathers and grandfathers have often 

 seen and killed them, but assert that some are still existing 

 in the mountains ; it is even re)3orted that an Englishman 

 one day saw one, but was so frightened that he threw 

 down his sjun and ran away. 



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