* 216 Essays. 
race of struthious, brevi-pennate birds, embracing several distinct genera, 
and varying in size from that of a turkey to a stature far surpassing the 
tallest ostrich! These giant birds—the remnant, probably, of numerous 
tribes that originally roamed over a wide continent, now submerged—hemmed 
within the narrow limits of modern New Zealand, gradually diminished in 
numbers, till at length the race was finally annihilated, probably through 
human agency. Their skeletons, however, are still to be found embedded 
and preserved in the swamps and other alluvial deposits, or in the caves and 
sand-hills, of both North and South Islands; and the vast collections of 
these bones that have been transmitted to Europe have not only “ excited 
the delight of the natural philosopher and the astonishment of the multi- 
tude,” but have enabled Professor Owen to establish the characters of the 
principal genera and to determine many of the species.* 
Tt would exceed the limits of the present sketch to attempt any compre- 
hensive account of these extraordinary fossil birds, and we shall therefore 
only refer in the briefest way to the genera, as established by the learned 
professor, in order to trace the connection between the ancient and recent 
avifauna. 
The most remarkable of these extinct forms, for their stupendous size 
and anomalous character, are comprehended in the genus Dinornis, and they 
belong to a type quite unknown either in a recent or fossil state in any other 
part of the world. The genus Palapteryz—the members of which attained 
a height of eight or ten feet, and in their osteological structure present some 
affinity to the Dromaius, or emu—is well typified by the existing species of | 
Apteryx, while the Brachypteryx, or giant short-winged rail, finds its true 
type in the recent Notornis mantelli. The Aptornis (of which) only one 
species has been determined) bears no relation whatever to any existing 
genus in New Zealand. It appears to have been a cursorial bird, presenting, 
in the structure of its feet, some resemblance to the celebrated dodo. On 
the other hand, a fossil parrot discovered by Mr. Mantell at Waingongoro 
(North Island), presents a close affinity to our living genus Nestor. 
To pass on at once to the existing fauna, we may notice as peculiarities 
of New Zealand ornithology, the genus Apterysx (kiwi), a group of wingless 
birds, closely related to some of the extinct forms, and as anomalousin their 
* Mr. Mantell was the first scientific explorer of the Waikouaiti and Waingongoro bone 
deposits. Possessed of great ability as a paleontologist, and exploring under favourable 
circumstances, he succeeded in miot a magnificent collection of these fossil remains, 
which he forwarded to England and ultimately deposited in the British Museum. It was 
y from the results of Mr. Mantell’s researches that Professor Owen was enabled to 
determine the following genera and species :—Dinornis n D. robustus, D. crassus, 
M. _ D. elephantopus, D. struthioides, D. casuarinus, D. rheides, D. didi iformis, D. curtus, D. 
me irren, or Aptornis olidiformis. 
