CHAPTEE X. 

 GIANT BIRDS. 



THE only birds existing at the present day which in 

 any sense merit the epithet gigantic are the Ostriches 

 of Africa and Arabia, the Eheas of South America, the 

 Cassowaries of Papua and North Australia, and the 

 Australian Emus ; and even the largest of these the 

 male Ostrich seldom exceeds seven feet in height. 

 The researches of palaeontologists have, however, re- 

 vealed to us that these four groups are but survivors 

 of a more extensive assemblage of Giant Birds which 

 was once spread over a considerable portion of the 

 globe, and some of whose members as much surpassed 

 the Ostrich in size as the latter exceeds the Eheas in 

 this respect. Indeed, with our present knowledge of 

 the meaning of the geographical distribution of animals, 

 the very circumstance that existing Giant Birds are 

 more or less closely allied, and are found scattered over 

 the globe in areas widely separated and disconnected 

 from one another, would of itself have been sufficient 

 to indicate that they are the remnants of a group which 

 was at one time of much larger extent, and inhabited 



regions where such creatures are now unknown. It is 



147 



