'242 THE UNIVERSE. 



world. A simple leaf suffices for tlie gambols of a whole 

 family; a flower is tlie perfumed throne on which the nup- 

 tials are accompUshed, and the petals of its corolla spread 

 out to form a velvet dais which hides their chaste loves. 



Were we to compare the size of different birds, we 

 should arrive at Avonderful results. Lac(5pede, who doubt- 

 less could not boast of being as exact as Archimedes, cal- 

 culated that it would require a thousand millions of shrew- 

 mice to ecjual a whale in weight. If that were true, Ave 

 should also have to pile up some millions of humming- 

 birds to weigh against the heavy ostrich. 



We have just spoken of the ostrich, but it again is only 

 a puny animal compared with two ornithological marvels, 

 the recent discovery of which we owe to the illustrious 

 zoologists Prof Owen and Isidore Geoflfroy Saint-Hilaire. 



One of them, the gigantic Dinornis of New Zealand, a 

 part of the skeleton of which is in the museum of the 

 London College of Surgeons, was eighteen feet high. The 

 lione of a man's leg is only a slender spindle compared to 

 that of tliis colossal bird. 



The disappearance of this monstrous animal dates from 

 no very distant epoch, and everything attests that the first 

 inhabitants of New Zealand were perfectly acquainted 

 with it. The ancient legends of the island tell us that at 

 the time of its discovery it was full of lairds of appalling 

 size. There are also ancient poems there in which the 

 father teaches his son how to hunt the ]\Ioa, the name 

 belonging of old to this species ; in tliese are descril^ed the 

 ceremonies Avhich took place when one had lieen killed. 

 They feasted on the flesh and eggs, while the feathers 

 served to adorn the arms of the vancjuishers. Some 

 hills are yet strewed Avith the bones of the Dinornis, the 

 remains of these great feasts of the hunters. 



