L 57 ] 



iiud the whole eoveving appi'oacbing very nearly the character of 

 ths hair of aiiiuials. The bones, too, were almost destitute of the 

 air cells which gave so much lightness to the skeletons of ordinary 

 birds, and assimilated more closely to mammalian bone. From 

 the mere rudimentary character of the wings there was an almost 

 absence of pectoral muscles, and the sternum was reduced to a 

 simple convex shield without any trace of the keel which in other 

 birds gave attachment to the powerful pectoral muscles. To 

 compensate for this deficiency, the great size and muscularity of 

 the legs rendered the pace of these birds in running very swift. The 

 pelvis was of a large size, and the two sides of the ai'ch united at 

 the pubis ; this was not the case in other birds. The anterior toes 

 wei'e strong, either two or three in number, and terminated by 

 strong nails. The hinder toe, except in the genus Apterix, where 

 it was rudimentary, was entirely wanting. So strong were the 

 legs and muscles in the ostrich, that it would knock over a hyena 

 with a stroke, or rip up a dog with its claw. At bay it had 

 knocked down, and trampled upon the hunter who had approached 

 it incautiously. 



THE ABODE OP BREVIPENNATE BIRDS 



It must have been noticed that all the brevipennate cursores 

 were confined either to islands or two Southern continents, and 

 were of great size. How could this be accounted for; and was 

 there anything to explain the fact ? First, as regarded the islands, 

 it seemed geologically evident that they, comparatively recently in 

 geological time, formed a part of the gi'eat Asio-African Continent 

 and that, when the separation took place, the ancestors of all these 

 gigantic and brevipennate birds were shut up in the islands 

 together with smaller birds, with the same lax plumage and feeble 

 powersof flight, those only of large size and swiftness of foot escaping 

 from their natural enemies shut up with them. That a ravenous 

 and active enemy in a small island would soon cause the extinction 

 of a small and feeble brevipennate bird was seen by what happened 

 in the Samoan group of islands. There was a Dodolet, the 

 didiinculus strigirostris, a pet with the natives, and a connecting 

 link between the true j)igeons and the Dodo. European vessels 

 touching at these islands left behind them rats, which increased 

 and multiplied until, like Dick Whittiugton's so-called cat of 



