ORDER CURSORES. APTERYX. 



491 



which it excavates in the ground. These holes are its breeding 

 places, and conduct to a deep chamber in which the Bird deposits 

 its eggs upon a bed of fern. The food of the Apteryx consists of 

 insects and particularly of worms ; the latter it procures by thrust- 

 ing its bill into the soil, when soft, and drawing them forth ; or 

 by striking with its bill and feet on the ground, when it is hard, 

 so as to disturb the worms, which it seizes as soon as they make 

 their appearance. Its habits are nocturnal; and the natives 

 hunt it by torchlight for the sake of its skin, which is much 

 valued by them, as a material for the chiefs' dresses. When it 

 is pursued, it elevates its head like an Ostrich, and runs with 

 great swiftness ; and if overtaken, it defends itself with great 

 spirit and vigour, and inflicts dangerous blows with its spur- 

 armed feet. This remarkable Bird seems likely to be soon exter- 

 minated from the very limited portion of the globe which it 

 inhabits at present ; and must then be numbered among the 

 races that have been. 



442. But if this be the probable fate of the Apteryx, it is one 

 which has already befallen numerous species of Birds which 

 formerly inhabited the country in which it is still to be found. 

 In the volcanic sands of New Zealand the bones of several birds 

 considered to be allied to the Ostriches have been found, and 

 described under the generic name of Dinornis, first proposed by 

 Professor Owen. One of these (the Dinornis giganteus) is sup- 

 posed to have been at least fourteen feet in height, and some of 

 the others were also of large size. The egg of one of these 

 Birds, discovered in a fossil state by Mr. Walter Mantell, is 

 described by him as being so large that his hat would just serve 

 as an egg-cup for it. The traditions of the natives refer to the 

 existence of gigantic Birds in the island at some distant period ; 

 to these they give the name of Moa, and they have even pointed 

 out the spot in which the last of these Birds was killed after a 

 terrific combat, in which several of its assailants were also de- 

 stroyed. From this, and from the semi-fossil state of the bones, 

 it appears pretty certain that these birds existed in New Zealand 

 since it received its human population ; and it has been suggested 

 by Professor Owen that when the islands were first colonised by 



