470 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



that they are exclusively found in regions now tenanted by 

 smaller wingless birds, whilst there is reason to believe that 

 some of them have been in existence during the human 

 period. Most of the remains in question have been found in 

 New Zealand, where there have been obtained the bones of 

 several species of large wingless birds, referred by Owen to 

 the genera Dinornis, Palapteryx, and Aptornis. The Dinornis 

 giganteus must have been one .of the most gigantic of the whole 

 class of birds, the tibia measuring upwards of a yard in length, 

 and the skeleton indicating a bird which stood at least ten 

 feet in height. In another species, the Dinornis elephantopus, 

 the " framework of the skeleton is the most massive of any in 

 the whole class of birds," and "the toe-bones almost rival those 

 of the Elephant" (Owen). The feet were furnished with three 

 anterior toes, and are of interest as presenting us with an un- 

 doubted bird big enough to produce the largest of the foot- 

 prints of the Triassic Sandstones of Connecticut. There is 

 reason to believe from the traditions of the Maories that the 

 Dinornis was living at no very remote period, and that it has 

 been exterminated by man. 



In Madagascar bones have been discovered of a bird as 

 large or larger than the Dinornis giganteus, which has been 

 described under the name of the ^Epiornis maximus. With 

 the bones have been found eggs measuring from thirteen to 

 fourteen inches in diameter, and computed to be as big as 

 three ostrich-eggs, or one hundred and forty-eight hens' eggs. 

 Unlike New Zealand, where there is the Apteryx, Madagascar 

 itself has no living wingless birds; but in the neighbouring 

 island of Mauritius the Dodo has been exterminated less than 

 three hundred years ago ; and the little island of Rodriguez, in 

 the same geographical province, has in a similar period lost 

 the wingless Solitaire (Pezophaps). 



