GIANT BIRDS. 235 



New Zealand, specimens of which may be seen at the Natural 

 History Museum, at the end of the long gallery devoted to living 

 birds. This bird, however, has a long pointed bill for probing in 

 the soft mud for worms, whereas the bill of the Moa was short 

 like that of an ostrich. 



Another difference between the two is that, while the Kiwi 

 still retains the rudiments of wing-bones, the Moa had hardly a 

 vestige of such. 



In Australia the remains have been found of a bird probably 

 related to the Cassowaries, but at present imperfectly known. 

 To this type of struthious, or running bird, the name Dromornis 

 has been given. 



Now, it is a remarkable fact that remains of another giant 

 bird and its eggs have been found on the opposite side of the 

 great Indian Ocean, namely, in the island of Madagascar, the 

 existence of which was first revealed by its eggs, found sunk in 

 the swamps, but of which some imperfect bones were afterwards 

 discovered. One of these eggs was so enormous that its 

 diameter was nearly fourteen inches, and was reckoned to be as 

 big as three ostrich eggs, or 148 hen's eggs ! This means a 

 cubic content of more than two gallons ! The natives search for 

 the eggs by probing in the soft mud of the swamps with long iron 

 rods. A large and perfect specimen of an egg of this bird, such 

 as was recently exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society, 

 is said to be worth ;^5o. What the dimensions of ^pyornis 

 were it is impossible to say, and it would be unsafe to venture a 

 calculation from the size of the egg.^ The reader who wishes 

 to see some of the remains of this huge bird may be referred to 

 the Natural History Museum. In wall case No. 25, Gallery 2 

 (Geological Department), may be seen a tibia and plaster casts of 

 other bones \ also two entire eggs, many broken pieces, and one 



* From the size of a femur and tibia of A^pyornis preserved in the Paris 

 Museum, it could not have been less in stature than the Dinornis elephantopus 

 of New Zealand, 



