GIANT BIRDS. 153 



it is even said that the " runs " made by them were 

 visible on the sides of the hills up to a few years ago, 

 and may, indeed, still be so. 



The leg-bone of a Moa may be at once known from 

 that of all living Giant Birds by the circumstance that 

 on the front surface of its lower end, immediately 

 above the huckle-bone, there is a narrow bar of bone 

 forming a bridge over a small groove (this being dis- 

 tinctly shown in Fig. 47, A). In the Giant Moa, of 

 which the leg is represented in Fig. 46, B, the leg-bone 

 attains the enormous length of one yard, and in an 

 allied species from the South Island its length is 

 upwards of 39 inches. The cannon-bone (as may be 

 seen in the figure) is comparatively long and slender, 

 and is more than half the length of the leg-bone. A 

 skeleton of a smaller individual in the Natural History 

 Museum has an approximate height of 10 J feet, and 

 we thus conclude that the larger birds did not stand 

 less than 12 feet. There were other species of true 

 Moas, of about the dimensions of a large male ostrich, 

 although of stouter build; and resembling the larger 

 birds in having only three toes to the feet, and not the 

 slightest trace of a wing. 



Alongside of these giants there were, however, other 

 species of much smaller size, in which there were four 

 toes to each foot, and the cannon-bone was relatively 

 much shorter (Fig. 47, B). Thus the Dwarf Moa, of 

 which the Natural History Museum possesses a com- 

 plete skeleton, was not more than three feet high, 

 while Owen's Moa was of still smaller dimensions. 



