FEATHERED GIANTS 147 



ures 4j by 6 inches, while that of the ^Epyor- 

 nis is 9 by 13 inches ; or, to put it another 

 way, it would hold the contents of six ostrichs' 

 eggs, or one hundred and forty-eight hens' eggs, 

 or thirty thousand humming birds' eggs ; and 

 while this is very much smaller than a water- 

 butt, it is still as large as a bucket, and one or 

 two such eggs might suffice to make an omelet 

 for Gargantua himself 



The size of an egg is no safe criterion of the 

 size of the bird that laid it, for a large bird 

 may lay a small egg, or a small bird a large 

 one. Comparing the egg of the great INIoa 

 with that of our ^Epyornis one might think 

 the latter much the larger bird, say twelve feet 

 in height, when the facts in the case are that 

 while there was no great difference in the 

 weight of the two, that difference, and a su- 

 periority of at least two feet in height, are in 

 favor of the bird that laid the smaller egg. 

 The record of large eggs, however, belongs to 

 the Apteryx, a New Zealand bird smaller 

 than a hen, though distantly related to the 

 Moas, which lays an egg about one-third of 

 its own weight, measuring 3 by 5 inches ; per- 



