204 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



races which flourished in past ages and imw hnger (»nl\- in a few 

 isolated locaHties. 



( )f all birds thev are the most unbirdlike, conibining- charac- 

 teristics which are extremely specialized with others which arc 

 startlini^ly reptilian. 



In many ways these birds stand alone, sharply set off from 

 the g'reat Subclass of flying- birds ; yet, such is the homogeneity 

 of all birds — so similar is the structural mould in which they are 

 all cast, that there is actually less dift'erence between the two 

 extremes — an ostrich and a crow — than between a marine turtle 

 and a land tortoise, or a common lizard and a chamelenn, mem- 

 lurs of com|)aratively subordinate groups of reptiles. 



During the Mesozoic Ag;e, reptiles ruled the earth bv means of 

 their great size and fierceness. Following hard upon their de- 

 cline, the mammals came to the fore. During all these millions 

 of years untold numliers of birds lived and died, taking small 

 ])art in the great struggle for supremacy, but keeping to the 

 branches and leaves of the conifers and cvcads of those ages. 



.At some time in this mysterious past, how and when we can 

 only guess, several groups of birds found certain places of refuge, 

 widely isolated, where, by flying less and trusting more to s])eed 

 in rumiing. they were able to avoid their enemies, live and nud- 

 tij)ly. These were the ancestors of the living Ostriches. Rheas. 

 Mmeus, Cassowaries and Apteryges, which form the subjiTt of 

 the present paper. 



We may cite .\rchaeopteryx, the famous bird of the Jurassic 

 period, with its lizard's tail, teeth and claws, and its bird's beak, 

 feathers and feet, as perhaps representing the avian stem before 

 the ancestors of the Ostriches began to diverge from an arboreal 

 and volant condition to one which eventually resulted in making 

 theni wholly terrestrial and cursorial. 



A thrush will serve as an example of one of the highest groups 

 of those birds which, holding true to the traditions of their an- 

 cestors, ke])t to the tree-tops. l)econiing e\])ert flvers. and gaining 

 in sweetness of voice and in tint of feather, rather than in mere 

 grossness of size. 



•iiii-: Ai'ii-.mx. 



In Xew Zealand we find the Apteryx. the most diminutive 

 and defenceless of the ( )strich tril)e, yet living in safety in this 

 isolated land until man came with his guns and dogs. The davs 

 of the Apteryx are now numln'rcd. It is ;ibout the size of a 

 flomcstic ff)w]. and i^ covered with loiio-. loose hair-like feathers. 



