458 AVES. 



witli a helmet-shaped bony knob on the liead ; with short neck, and 

 three-toed feet. The palate is dromaeognathous. The feathers have an 

 aftersluift as large as the main shaft. The vomer is large, articulating 

 witli the palatines and pterygoids. The wings are very small. They 

 are confined to the Australian Region. Casiiarius L., cassowary. New 

 Guinea, North Queensland, and some islands of Papuasia. Most species 

 with bony helmet-like knob on the head, and with brightly-coloured 

 naked lobes on the head and neck. Abovit 6-10 species. Dromaetis 

 Gray, emeus. Without helmet or cutaneous lobes. Confined to the 

 Australian continent, and formerly in Tasmania. D. novae hollar.diae 

 Gray. 



Fam. 4. Apterygidae. Kiwis (Fig. 250). Small, four-toed birds, 

 with short neck, long weak beak having the nostrils near the extremity. 

 The palate is dromaeognathous. The feathers have no aftershaft. The 

 eyes are remarkable for their small size. These birds, which are about 

 the size of a large hen, are entirely covered with long, hairlike feathers 

 which hang down loosely and completely hide the very small, practically 

 fimctionless wings. The short powerful legs are covered with scales ; 

 the three anteriorly directed toes are armed with claws for scratching ; 

 the hind toe (No. 1) is short and raised above the ground. The kiwis are 

 nocturnal birds, which by day remain concealed in holes. They feed on 

 insect larvae and worms, live in pairs, and at the breeding time they lay 

 in holes scraped in the earth a strikingly large egg, which according to 

 some is incubated by the male, and according to others by the male and 

 female in turn. They are confined to New Zealand. Apteryx mar.teUi 

 Bartl.. North Island ; A. australis Shaw, South Island ; A. oweni Gould, 

 both islands (Fig. 250). 



Fam. 5. Dinornithidae. Moas. This is a second group of terrestrial 

 birds of New Zealand, which were incapable of flight. It includes a num- 

 ber of forms which are wholly extinct, and some of which attained an enor- 

 mous size (up to ten feet high). Of heavy, unwieldy build, and incapable 

 of raising themselves from the ground, they were vuiable to resist the 

 pursuit of the natives of New Zealand. The remains of some have been 

 found in the Pleistocene, and in some cases the bones appear so recent, 

 that it cannot be doubted that they co-existed with man. The traditions 

 of the natives about the gigantic Moa, and numerovis discoveries of the 

 fragments of eggs in caves, also point to the fact (hat these 

 gigantic birds have lived in comparatively recent times. The restoration 

 of the skeleton of gigantic species [Palapteryx ingens, Dinornis giganteus, 

 elephantopus, etc.) has been effected from the bones which have been 

 collected. The wing bones appear to have been absent ; the hind limbs 

 are large and massive ; the hallux is sometimes present. They are con- 

 fined to New Zealand and no remains are known older than the Pliocene. 



Fam. 6. Aepyomithidae. Recently extinct large birds from Mada- 

 gascar, with long, stout four-toed legs, very small sternum and wings, 

 and very large eggs. Aepyornis. 



Sub-order 2. ODONTOLCAE. 



Extinct marine flightless birds without sternal keel, with teeth im- 

 planted in gi'ooves in the jaws. Hesperornis Marsh. Upper Cretaceous 

 of Kansas. A highly specialised diving bird. The wing-bones are 

 much reduced, the humerus only is known ; the clavicles are not 



