FOSSIL BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 173 



III the most ancient tertiary strata unquestionable vestiges of birds occur ; in the Sub- 

 Himalaya eocene deposits, they are associated with bones of the extinct elephantine mammalia 

 of India ; in those of the Paris basin with the remains of the Palceotheria, &c. In the miocene 

 and pliocene formations, the bones and even egg-shells of several species and genera have been 

 detected. The remains of birds, however, even in comparatively recent deposits, were of such 

 rare occurrence as to be ranked by the collector of fossils among the most precious of his 

 acquisitions; but a few years ago, a most extraordinary discovery in our Antipodean colony. 

 New Zealand, astonished and delighted the palaeontologist, by placing before him hundreds 

 of bones of numerous extinct genera of birds, some of which far exceed in magnitude those of 

 the most gigantic living species, the Ostrich. 



In various localities of the maritime districts of New Zealand, there had been observed 

 in the beds of rivers and streams, fossil bones of birds of colossal magnitude, belonging to many 

 species and several genera, associated with similar relics of smaller species. These bones had 

 attracted the attention of the natives long ere the country was visited by Europeans; and 

 traditions are rife among the New Zealanders that this race formerly existed in great numbers, 

 and served as food to their remote ancestors. They also believe that some of the largest species 

 have been seen alive within the memory of man ; and even affirm that individuals still exist 

 in the unfrequented and inaccessible parts of the interior of the country. They call the bird 

 Moa, and state that its head and tail were adorned with magnificent plumes of feathers, wliich 

 were worn by their ancient cliiefs as ornaments of distinction. 



Nine years since, a fragment of a thigh-bone of a bird larger than that of the Ostrich was 

 brought to England by Mr. Rule, and submitted to the examination of Professor Owen, who pro- 

 nounced it to belong to a gigantic bird of the Struthious (Ostrich) order. A few years afterwards 

 several collections of vertebras, bones of the extremities, &c. were transmitted to England by 

 Messrs. Williams, Wakefield, Earle, &c., Avhich corroborated that opinion, and proved that there 

 formerly existed in the islands of New Zealand, colossal birds of a type distinct from any known 

 in other parts of the world. In 1846 and 1847, my eldest son, Mr. Walter Mantell, who has 

 resided in New Zealand several years, made an extensive and highly interesting collection of 

 these fossil remains, which arrived in England in 1848. This series contains skulls, with the 

 mandibles or beaks, bones of other parts of the skeleton, and portions of the egg-shells, of several 

 extinct species and genera of birds ; presenting remarkable deviations from the previously known 

 types to which they are most nearly allied. 



This valuable accession to our knowledge of the osteology of this extinct race of Ostrich-like 

 birds — some individuals of which must have attained a height of from ten to twelve feet — has 

 yielded important results as to the form, structure, and economy, of these colossal bipeds, and the 

 prevailing characters of the tei-restrial fauna of New Zealand in very remote periods. The 

 collection, consisting of above 700 specimens, is now in the British Museum : it was obtained 

 chiefly from a bed of menaccanite or titaniferous iron-sand, that had evidently been washed down 

 by torrents from the volcanic region of Mount Egmont; that snow-capped ridge which forms 

 so striking a feature in the physical geography oi' the North Island, and is the source of the 

 fresh-water streams that discliarge themselves into the ocean along the western sliore. The 

 tract of sand from which my son dug up these relics, is on the coast near the embouchure 

 of a small river called Waingongoro, between ^\'anganui and Waimate. That stream evidently 

 once flowed into the sea far from its present course, for lines of cliffs extend inland from the 

 now dry sand-spit, and bear marks of the erosive action of currents.' A few months since, 

 ' I must refer for details to the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, No. XV. August 1S4S. 



