CLASS II. AYES- OKDEK G. CURSORES. 



265 



Bones of Extinct Struthionid^. — The eggs and some of the bones of a gigantic bird belong- 

 ing to this family, the Epyornis maximus^ have been recently discovered in the island of Mada- 

 gascar and taken to Europe. The largest of the eggs, which were found imbedded in alluvial soil, 

 measured no less than twelve inches and two-thirds in lencrth, while the ecfir of the Common Ostrich 

 is only about half that length. The difference in the contents of the two eggs is much greater, 

 for M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-IIilaire, who was the first describer of these extraordinary remains, 

 calculates that the largest egg of the Epijornis received by the Taris Museum would contain ten 

 and an eighth quarts, or about as much as six eggs of the ostrich, sixteen of the cassowarv, or 



one hundred and forty-eight of the common hen. One 

 of the eggs had been perforated by the natives, and used 

 as a vessel for carrying water. From the dimensions of 

 the bones, it is supposed that this bird must have been at 

 least double the size of the ostrich ; and it appears not 

 improbable that it may still be in existence in the interior 

 of the almost unknown island in which its remains were 

 found. 



Another group of gigantic extinct birds is also placed 

 in the immediate neighborhood of the Struthionidse by 

 some authors, but distributed by others between these and 

 the Grallatores. These are the Dinornidce, the bones 

 and even the eggs of which have been found in con- 

 siderable quantities imbedded in the volcanic sands of 

 New Zealand. 



Several species have been distinguished, among which 

 the Dinornis (figanteus was pre-eminent in stature. A 

 nearly complete skeleton is found in the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons, London, from which it has 

 been calculated that it must have been at least fourteen 

 feet in height. It appears exceedingly probable that 

 these birds, if they do not still exist in the more inacces- 

 sible parts of the islands of New Zealand, were inhabit- 

 ants of that distant land when it was first peopled with 

 human beings, as the traditions of the natives describe a 

 gigantic bird, to which they give the name of ./Jfoa, with 

 SKELETON OF THE DiNORMs cicANTEus — THE NECK whlcli tlicir auccstors arc Said to have waffed a war of 

 SUPPLIED BT A WIRE. dcstructiou. The natives showed one traveler the place 



where the last Moa was destroyed after a tremendous battle, in which several of its assailants 

 were killed. The egg of one of these birds was discovered by Mr. Walter Mantell, who describes it 

 as so large that his hat would but just serve as an egg-cup for it; it would, therefore, appear to 

 have been nearly as large as tliat of the Epyornis. 

 Vol. II.— 34 



