242 THE EXTINCT GIGANTIC BIRDS OF 



moorei*? What a nice feast would an Aptenjx be to this bird! When 

 once we embark in the region of speculation, we find ourselves in danger. 

 Dr. Rudolf Virchow has well said, with reference to such a thing . — 

 " Do not take this for an estabhshed truth ; be prepared to find that it 

 is otherwise ; only for the moment we are of opinion that it may possibly 



be so " f. 



Certainly, " for the moment," I am of opinion that destructive agency is 

 a factor no longer to be regarded as having been absent from the area of 

 the Moa — provided always, however, that the Apteryx and Harpagornis were 

 contemporaneous, as would appear. 



Respecting the debated question of the antiquity of the Dinornis, after 

 careful perusal of such evidence as we have, I am convinced that the bird 

 belonged to very ancient days, but that favourable circumstances prolonged 

 its existence to a quite recent period. We shall probably never know its 

 true history, any more than we shall learn the wonders of Mr. Sclater's sunk 

 continent Lemuria : the former is obliterated by the waves of time, the latter 

 by those of the Pacific Ocean. 



The thin shell of the egg of the Moa, resembling that of the Apteryx, 

 must strike the ooloo;ist who is familiar with the frao-ments of the 

 species of jEpyornis; nevertheless the bifid character of the feather of 

 the Moa (N.Z. Trans, vol. iv. pi. 7) is very diverse from that of the 

 Apteryx (cf. Ornith. Misc. vol. i. p. 24, plate vi.), whilst it resembles that 

 of the Emu. 



* For au account of this species, read Dr. Julius Haast's interesting article, Trans. N.Z. Inst, 

 vol. vi. 1873, p. 63. 



t " Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat " (" The Freedom of Science in the 

 Modern State"), 'Times,' January 29, 1878. 



