234 GIGANTIC BIRDS. 



tremity of the Gardens are two interesting groups of animals 

 which well deserve all that remains of the present chapter. 



The first of these groups or collections is that formed by the 

 noble series of Struthoid Birds, the Ostrich and its allies, of 

 which nearly all the existing species are here exhibited. The 

 latest addition to this extraordinary race of birds is the Mooruk 

 (Casuarius Bennetti\ which has recently been discovered in the 

 island of New Britain, and whose habits in a state of domestica- 

 tion have been very fully described in the " Gatherings of a 

 Naturalist " by Dr. Bennett, the gentleman who sent the bird to 

 this country, and after whom it is named. The Mooruk is most 

 nearly allied to the Cassowary, from which, however, it may 

 readily be distinguished by the triangular horny crest of the 

 head and the brilliant cobalt blue of the naked skin on the upper 

 part of the neck. The great peculiarity of the Struthoid Birds 

 consists in the extraordinary development which is given to the 

 legs, on which the entire business of locomotion is devolved, and 

 the corresponding diminution in power of the wings, which in no 

 case are adequate to raise the body into the air, and in most of 

 the species are merely rudimentary. The wing-bones are most 

 fully developed in the Ehea or American Ostrich, of which tuere 

 are two or three distinct species here in the Gardens and next 

 in the Ostrich, in both of which the diminished organs of flight 

 render aid in running : while in the Cassowary and the Emeu, 

 and in the curious Apteryx of New Zealand, this characteristic 

 part of the structure in birds generally is reduced to the most 

 rudimentary form. In all the species alike the leg bones are 

 immensely developed, and endowed with enormous strength, so 

 that the birds are enabled to course along with a speed superior 

 to that of the fleetest horse, and to deal out blows, which, at 

 close quarters, render them extremely formidable antagonists. 



By far the most interesting circumstance in relation to these 

 great wingless birds is the discovery of what seems to have been 

 the metropolis of the race. In the two principal islands of New 

 Zealand, wherein, so far as is known, the Struthoid Birds are 

 now represented solely by the Apteryx, the smallest of the race, 

 there have been discovered within the last twenty years the re- 

 mains of no less than twenty distinct species of birds belonging to 

 this family, some of which were not larger than the Turkey, while 

 others were more than double the size of the Ostrich, the largest 



