154 ANIMAL LIFE PAST AND PRESENT. 



There were also other species of this group nearly as 

 large as an ostrich. 



Perhaps, however, the most remarkable of all these 

 birds is the Elephant-footed Moa (Fig. 46, A), which, 

 although by no means equal in height to the Giant 

 Moa, was of much more massive build. In this extra- 

 ordinary bird the leg-bone is much shorter and thicker 

 than in the Giant Moa, while the cannon-bone is so 

 short and thick that it almost loses the character of a 

 " long bone." In one unusually large example of the 

 last-named bone, while the length is only 9^ inches, 

 the width at the lower end is upwards of 6J. By the 

 side of such a bone the cannon-bone of an ox looks 

 small and slender, and the effects of a kick from such 

 a leg can be better imagined than described. 



The total number of kinds of Moa inhabiting New 

 Zealand was probably at least twenty, and, from the 

 enormous accumulations of their bones found in some 

 districts, we may assume that these creatures were 

 extremely common, and probably went about in droves. 

 Nothing like this bird fauna is known in any other 

 part of the world; and its exuberance may be pro- 

 bably explained by the absence of mammals from New 

 Zealand, so that when the ancestors of the Moas once 

 reached these islands they found a free field for un- 

 limited development. The nearest allies of the Moas 

 are the small Kiwis ; but whereas the latter have long 

 pointed bills for probing in soft mud after worms, the 

 bills of the Moa were short and broad like those of 

 the Ostrich. Moreover, although the Kiwis have no 



