r 



44 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



The bones liavu bct-ii iiu-t witli under tlie most different conditions, some scattered 

 over the siirfiice, otbers buried loosely in the s:ind, others in tlie old native cotikinj;^- 

 places or graves, others ajjain in the alluvium of rivers, marshes, or in caves, sometimes 

 so numerous that they have been dug out by the ton. Tlie most remarkable find in 

 that line is the exhumation by Mr. Booth, at Hamilton, of three and a lialf tons of 

 moa-bones from a single half-dried lagoon surrounding a spring, the number of bird- 

 skeletons accumulated there being esti- 

 mated at more than four hundred. 3Ioa 

 skeletons are tlierefore no lonirer rarities 

 in the museums; fine collections are in 

 London, in Vienn.i, and other European 

 museums, not to speak of the magnificent 

 series which are preserved in tiie colony 

 itself; also museums in this country have 

 received valuable material, the American 

 Museum of Natural History in New York, 

 however, being in the lead witli its elegant 

 collection of mounted nioa .skeletfins. 



Thanks to this ani])le material we know 

 the moas i>retty well, and about fifteen 

 species are now recognized. Owing to the 

 presence of a hind toe, as in the kiwis, a 

 ^^^ Kji K^ ,,«ssw. luuuber of species were first sc])arated by 



f^ ^ I ' V ^.'-T^ A Owen as a distinct genus, J'(i/iij>t'7\i/.c. This 



( • ^ division was carried further by Dr. Haast, 



■ - i who made Dinornis and I'uhipttnjx the 



"" - basis of two families, incliuling two addi- 



""'"'* •*-.- tional genera. Of these ^e/c>«or«i« was 



Fio.w.— Dinornis III I ,>.. >i. i. n. lu ji . Ji^ictter'srestora- made to include the siK'cies 7). castiarinus 



tioii. Tbo BiimH birds aru kiwis. , j. 7. -. • \ e 1 



anil (.(Hli/oniiis, the lornier the type of 

 Reichenbach's genus >\)/oniii<, the latter the type of the same authoi-'s Aiioiiialopteri/x, 

 both established in 1852. It is quite probable that the distinction derived from the j>res- 

 ence or al)sence of a back toe will not hold, as it may have been jjrescnt in all the sj>ecie8, 

 though not found with the skeletons, for no safe conclusion can be made from the 

 absence of an articular surface on the metatarsal bone, as proven by tiie presence of a 

 hind toe in D. parvus, notwithstanding the fact that it is not indicated in' the charac- 

 ter of the metatarsus. 



The J>iiioriiithes ai-e related to the kiwis, togethir with wliiili they inh.abited 

 New Ze.'iland, as kiwi bones have been found associated with those of the more or 

 less fossilized nioas, but in some characters they agree better with the emus ami casso- 

 waries of the Australian mainland ami the Papuan islands, and it is therefore a very 

 important discovery that remains of moas have also been found in Australia, in a jmst- 

 pliocene de])osit in Queensland. 



The most striking jieculiarity of this group is the enormously massive structure of 

 the hind extremities, which reaches its maximum in J>. cfiji/i<iiit(>pns^ a name truly 

 suggestive of the extreme develo]>ment of the feet. Concomitant with these large 

 hind limbs is the very rudimentary condition of the fore extremities, which were 

 nearly obsolete. The front edge of the small, Hat, and keelless breast-bone has two 



