28 NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



sand humming-bird's eggs. Frag-ments of these eg-gs and occasional 

 whole ones are foimd in swampy places, or floating- on the water after 

 storms, or in the graves of natives. Aepyornis is charactei-ized bjr a short 

 beak, the presence of a g-reat toe and a small wing, and by other less 

 obvioiis strnctural differences. 



APTERYGES 



Of the Apteryges several are reported, the largest, which is very like 

 the living Apteryx, being Megalapteryx. These M^ere confined to New 

 Zealand, occurring in Pleistocene and in recent deposits; like the living 

 kiwis or Apteryx, their bills were long and slender, adapting them for 

 use in probing marshy ground for food. Apteryx is an exemplification 

 of the statement that some fossils are living, for, though approaching- 

 extermination, it still lingers. 



MOA BIRDS. 



^^ — ■■-■■■■-■^■-r-y*''^ ■ £■ \ In the Immanes (Dinornithes) 



^..••■■''- ■ %_ -J is realized the largest of all birds, 



,^v ^^^1^0^ and Dinornis — the terrible bird — is 



I&; , ; ^. ■ •'" ;""•-... a fitting appellation. The use of 



J&i^.^. , ,J( \ the Greek adjective (linos is frequent 



^^Jii^ii^fiS^ %Lt i^ ^" geologic time, for each age has 



'wjLSJKP-"^ ^i^SijjiJl^iP'^ boasted of some huge creature to 



"^"""^ which dinos, or terrible, was applied, 



„.„,_, n ■ ^ , . T , , . such as Dinichthys, the terrible fish. 



Fig. 84 — Eggs of giant birds (Aepyornis at ^ 

 left, Moa at right) compared with a 12 Diiiosaur, the terrible saurian, /Cl- 

 inch rule, and with the egg of ostrich ^lornis, the terrible bird, and Dino- 

 and hen (smallest) above. . , ., , , ^, 



thcmim, the terrible beast. The 



extermination of Dinornis is also within historic times; so recent in 

 fact that nearly complete mummified specimens occur in which the 

 skeleton is covered with dried skin with the feathers attached, and the- 

 eggs are said to still retain the original pale green color. The eggs 

 are found in swamps, and are so large that it has been said that a hat 

 would make an egg cup for them. Egg shells are also abundant in the 

 refuse heaps of the natives. They do not date back of the Pleistocene 

 although there is a hint of their occurrence in the Pliocene. Of the 

 Dinornithidae, or moas, there is a long and confused list, Dinornis being 

 the typical and best known as well as the largest form. It is char- 

 acterized in outward appearance by a small beak, rudimentary wings, 

 and the absence of the great toe. The fifteen or twenty species of 

 described moas are confined to New Zealand, and include those vary- 

 ing from the size of a turkey up to the largest of all, Dinornis maximus,. 

 which stood ten to twelve feet high, and in size dwarfed the largest 

 ostrich. In its geological history New Zealand, which is now divided 

 by Cooks Strait into North and South Island, was originally one, but, 

 perhaps by changes in level, the two have been separated and sufficient 

 time has elapsed to account for a wide divergence of species. These 



