Moas and Moa-Tiunters. 1 27 



of flight and more or less analogous to the ostrich or the 

 cassowary *. Four or five species of this group still exist 

 in New Zealand. They are known to the natives by the 

 common name of Kiwi^ and have been placed together by 

 naturalists in the genus Ajpteryx f. They vary in size from 

 that of a fowl to that of a turkey. But the number of extinct 

 species is far more considerable, and among them are some of 

 truly gigantic proportions. It is these vanished species that 

 are called by the common name of Moa^ borrowed from the 

 language of the Maoris \. 



The first investigations upon this curious chapter of orni- 

 thology date from 1830. The illustrious English anatomist, 

 Richard Owen, had received from a Mr. Rule the middle 

 portion of a femur, and from the examination of this single 

 imperfect specimen he drew conclusions which every thing 

 has tended to confirm §. More abundant and more complete 



* Beyond New Zealand the ornithological type in question is only 

 represented by four species, each having a very different area of habitat 

 and isolated from the others by vast spaces. These are the ostrich 

 (Struf.hio camelus, Liuue), which inhabits almost the whole of Africa 

 and the warm parts of Asia on this side of the Ganges ; the nandou, or 

 American ostrich {Rhea americana, -Lath.), which inhabits South Ame- 

 rice fi'om Brazil to Patagonia ; the emeu, or lielmeted cassowary (^Casu- 

 arius emeu, Lath., StnitJiio casuarius, Linne), found only in the Indian 

 Archipelago and principally in the forests of Oerani ; and lastly the emou, 

 or helmetless cassowary {Casuarius novcB-hoUandice, Lath.), which appears 

 to have been spread over the whole of Australia, but which the European 

 colonists drive back more and more and will not fail to destroy. [It will 

 be remarked here that M. de Quatrefages x'efers only to four species instead 

 of four genera. The uimiber of species is considerably greater, there being 

 three known species of Rhea, two species of Dromceus, and nine of Casu- 

 arius. The last-named genus has a much wider range than is indicated 

 above, extending from the Indian Archipelago to the island of New 

 Britain and to Northern Australia. — Tr.] 



t These species are Apteryx aust rails, A. Muntelli, A, Oioenii, and A. 

 Haastii, A fifth species of large size perhaps exists in the desert regions 

 of the Middle Island. It has even been described by Verreau, a French 

 natural-history traveller. But he had never seen more than a single skin 

 covered with feathers, of which a Maori chief had made himself a mantle, 

 (Note communicated by M. Alphonse Edwards.) 



X The Kiwis were in existence at the same time as certain species of 

 Moas. Their bones have been found mixed together in caves and also 

 among the kitchen refuse, of which I shall speak hereafter. The Moas, 

 moreover, are not the only birds the species of which have disappeared 

 from New Zealand, Owen has shown that this is also the case with two 

 Rallidie, of which he makes the genus Aptornis. Dr. Ilaast has described 

 the remains of a large bird of px'ey, which he has named Harpayornis 

 Moorei; it is perhaps the Weka spoken of in certain Maori traditions (see 

 "Notes on Harpagornis Moorei," by J. Ilaast, in Trans. &c., vol. iv. 

 p. 192, pis. X. and xi.). 



§ Sir Richard Owen made his first commmiication on this subject to 

 the Zoological Society of London on the 13th November, 1839. He fol- 



10* 



