FEATHERED GIANTS 



117 



been preserved for centuries without any care whatever, 

 while the buffalo bugs have devoured our best Smyrna 

 rugs in spite of all possible precautions, 

 our respect for them increases. 



From the bones we learn that there 

 were a great many kinds of Moas, 

 twenty at least, ranging in size from 

 those little larger than 

 a turkey to that giant 

 among giants, Dinornis 

 maximus, which stood 

 at least ten feet high/ 

 or two feet higher than 

 the largest ostrich, and 

 may well claim the dis- 

 tinction of being the 

 tallest of all known 

 birds. We also learn 

 from the bones that 

 not only were the Moas 

 flightless, but that 

 many of them were 

 absolutely wingless, 

 being devoid even of 

 such vestiges of wings 

 as we find in the Cas- 

 sowary or Apteryx. 



!The height of the Moas, 

 and even of some species of 

 yEpyornis is often stated to 

 be twelve or fourteen feet, 

 but such a height can only be 

 obtained by placing the skel- 

 eton in a wholly unnatural 

 attitude. 



Leg bones of horse compared with 

 those of a Moa. 



