142 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



or two feet higher than the largest ostrich, and 

 may well claim the distinction of being the 

 tallest of all known birds. We also learn from 

 the bones that not only were the Moas flight- 

 less, but that many of them were absolutely 

 wingless, being devoid even of such vestiges of 

 wings as we find in the Cassowary or Apteryx. 

 But if Nature deprived these birds of wings, 

 she made ample amends in the matter of legs, 

 those of some species, the Elephant-footed 

 Moa, Pachyornis elephantopus, for example, 

 being so massively built as to cause one to 

 wonder what the owner used them for, al- 

 though the generally accepted theory is that 

 they were used for scratching up the roots of 

 ferns on which the Moas are believed to have 

 fed. And if a blow from an irate ostrich is 

 sufficient to fell a man, what must have been 

 the kicking power of an able-bodied Moa? 

 Beside this bird the ostrich would appear as 

 slim and graceful as a gazelle beside a prize ox. 

 The Moas were confined to New Zealand, 

 some species inhabiting the North Island, some 

 the South, very few being common to both, 

 and from these peculiarities of distribution 



