THE CHALK PERIOD 



ridges and various marks on the bones, Owen was able 

 to say that it was identical with the middle of the 

 thigh-bone of an ostrich. He ventured then to publish 

 that this bone was a proof that there existed formerly 

 in New Zealand a huge land bird like the ostrich, only 

 bigger. After a few years more bones were sent to 

 Owen from New Zealand, which entirely confirmed what 

 he said ; and in the course of a few years he was able 

 to put together from the bones sent a skeleton with 

 enormous legs and neck the skeleton of the ostrich- 

 like bird the Moa of New Zealand. Since that time 

 a great number of these birds have been found buried 

 in the morasses and swamps of that country. The Moa 

 is allied to the ostriches of Africa, the emus and casso- 

 waries of Australia, and the rheas of South America. 



The Moa of Madagascar was smaller, and is known as 

 the ^Epyornls. But it lays the largest egg known, a 

 tremendous thing as big as a Rugby football. It was 

 this very large egg which inflamed the imagination of 

 ancient navigators, and led to the vast exaggeration in 

 describing the so-called " Roc," which Sindbad met with 

 in the Arabian Nights. In concluding these brief notes 

 on extinct birds we must also mention the present-day 

 " kiwi " in New Zealand, which resembles in some respects 

 the Apteryx, or most ancient of birds. 



Let us now return to the land reptiles of the Chalk 

 period. These are chiefly found in America, which was 

 not submerged, as the greater part of Europe was, beneath 

 the ocean. The incursion of the sea was more limited in 

 the western hemisphere, and the land area was large 



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