148 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v. 



come from a kind still existing. But a bird larger 

 than an ostrich, belonging toa" heavier and more 

 sluggish species," could hardly have escaped ob- 

 servation in a tract of dry land such as New Zea- 

 land. Moreover, after arriving at the conviction 

 that the "bone" was part of a huge terrestrial 

 bird, I still felt some uncertainty as to the alleged 

 habitat. At that date, the largest known land- 

 bird of the islands of New Zealand was the 

 apteryx, and even its existence had begun to be 

 doubted. Accordingly, the Earl of Derby, then 

 President of the Zoological Society, who pos- 

 sessed the unique skin, which had been brought 

 by Captain Barclay from New Zealand in 1812, 

 and had been figured by Dr. Shaw in his 

 " Naturalist's Miscellany," transmitted the speci- 

 men to the Society, and confided it in 1833 

 for re-examination and description to William 

 Yarrell. 



' Now this bird was barely the size of a 

 pheasant, and " the bone " indicated a bird as big 

 as an ostrich. 



' But the ostrich has the continent of Africa for 

 its home, the rhea roams over South America, the 

 emu over Australia, casuarius has not only New 

 Guinea, but North Australia, and some neigh- 

 bouring islands, as its habitat. 



' The misgivings of Vigors and some other 

 of my zoological contemporaries were as to the 

 possibility of a terrestrial bird, of the size I sup- 



