CHAPTER II. 



PART III. , 

 THE FOSSIL BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



FOSSIL REMAINS OF BIRDS MOA OF NEW ZEALAND NATIVE TRADITIONS- 

 HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND MOA-BED AT 

 WAIKOUAITI OSSIFEROUS DEPOSITS IN THE NORTH ISLAND BONE OAVES 

 FLORA AND FAUNA OF NEW ZEALAND THE APTERYX MOA, OR 

 DINORNIS CRANIUM BONES OF EXTREMITIES OF DINORNIS FOOT OF 

 DINORNIS PALAPTERYX CRANIUM FOSSIL EGGS OF DINORNIS APTORNIS 

 FOSSIL BONES OF NOTORNIS DISCOVERY OF A LIVING NOTORNIS FOSSIL 

 PARROT APTERYX ALBATROSS PENGUIN DOG SEALS BURNT HUMAN 

 BONES RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY. 



FOSSIL REMAINS OF BIRDS. Before describing the speci- 

 mens which form the immediate subject of the present 

 section, I would offer a few general observations on the 

 occurrence of the remains of Birds in a fossil state, as intro- 

 ductory to the interesting phenomena that will shortly 

 engage our attention. 



Relics of birds are of extreme rarity in the mineral king- 

 dom ; throughout the immense series of palaeozoic and 

 secondary formations, the accumulated deposits of innumer- 

 able ages, no unquestionable indications of the existence of 

 this class of highly organized beings have been brought to 

 light. 



Triassic Epoch. In the Triassic or New Red argillaceous 

 sandstones of the Valley of the Connecticut River, the 

 remarkable foot-tracks described in a previous chapter, and 

 of which there are illustrative examples in Room I. (ante, 

 p. 13), seem to render it highly probable that birds of 

 great size, and referable to numerous species and genera, 

 existed during the period when the Triassic strata of the 



