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, i 
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 ~ 
eee otis — 
ees Se  S I  * ee sn ee _ _ 
