Aves — Flightless Birds. 



95 



G-lass-case 

 K. 



Glass-case 

 S. 



Table-case, 

 No. 12. 



the extraordinary diversity in size which their skeletons exhibit, The Moa. 

 the Dinornis must have enjoyed for hundreds of years com- 

 plete immunity from the attacks both of man and wild beasts. 

 Professor Owen has described no fewer than eighteen species of 

 these extinct running' birds, varying in size from three to upwards 

 of ten feet in height, and differing greatly in their relative 

 forms, some being tall and slender, and probably swift-footed 

 like the modern Ostrich, whilst others were short and very 

 stout-limbed, as in the specimen of Pachyornis elephantopus, which 

 was undoubtedly a bird of great strength, but very heavy-footed 

 (see Skeleton, Fig. 116). Emeus crassus was also very robust 

 of limb. 



The ancient Maoris, when they landed, no doubt feasted on 

 these huge birds as long as any remained, and their extermina- 

 tion probably only dates back to about the period at which these 

 islands were thrice visited by Captain Cook, 1769-1778. Their 

 charred bones and eg-g-shells have been noticed, by the Honour- 

 able Walter Mantell, mixed with charcoal where the native 

 < >vens and fires were formerly made ; and their eggs are said to 

 have been found in Maori graves. 



In 1882, the Trustees obtained from a fissure-cave in Otago, 

 Xew Zealand, the head, neck, and two legs and feet of a " Moa " 

 (Anomalopteryx didina), having the skin still preserved in a dried 

 state covering the bones, and some few feathers of a reddish hue 

 still attached to the leg. The tracheal rings of the windpipe may 

 be seen in situ, the sclerotic plates of the eyes, and the sheaths 

 of the claws. One foot also shows the hind-claw (hallux) 

 of the bird still attached to the foot. 



Five nearly entire skeletons are placed in separate cases ; G-lass-cases 

 Pachyornis elephantopus (Fig. 116), in front of the window, and K,.,R'.,andS 

 two in the glass-case placed between the windows on the South 

 side against the wall of this Room, the entire skeleton of one of 

 the tallest (JJinomis maximus being over 10 feet), and of one of 

 the smallest (Anomalopteryx parva, only 3 feet) species of the 

 Moa family. Case RR. contains the skeletons of Anomalopteryx 

 didiformis and Emeus gravipes. 



The geographical distribution of the flightless birds is a 

 subject of extreme interest, for, notwithstanding the fact that 

 they have only rudimentary wings, they have been found — 

 either living or fossil — in almost every quarter of the globe. 

 Thus, in South America we have Darwin's Rhea, of which 

 three species are recorded. In North America Prof. Cope has 

 described a large wingless bird (Diatryma gigantea), from the 

 Eocene of N"ew Mexico. In England Prof. Owen has recorded 

 the Basornis londiniensis, from the London Clay of Sheppey, and 

 Mr. E. T. Newton the Gastomis Klaasseni from the Woolwich 

 Reds, near Croydon, related to Gastomis parisiensis from the 

 Eocene of Meudon, near Paris ; all large flightless birds. 



