276 Dr A. Thomson on the Moa Caves in New Zealand. 



distinguished by having very short or rudimentary wings 

 and massive legs. In their habits they are strictly terres- 

 trial ; and this will be at once comprehended, when I men- 

 tion that in this order we find the Ostrich, the Cassowary, 

 the Rhea, the Emu, the Apteryx, and perhaps the Dodo. 



Bones of five different species of Moas have been found 

 in New Zealand. The scientific term Dinornis is applied as 

 a general term to the whole of them ; and we have the Di- 

 nornis robustus, Dinornis struthioides, Dinornis dromioides 

 Dinornis curtus, and Dinornis didiformis. But there are 

 found in New Zealand, side by side with the large Moa's 

 bones, the bones of other birds nearly allied to the Moa, 

 although of less magnitude. The New Zealanders call them 

 all Moas' bones ; but naturalists denominate the largest as 

 the bones of the Palaptyrix, the next as the Aptornis, of 

 which there are two species, and the smallest bones are called 

 the Notornis ; and those who are curious about the dis- 

 tinguishing features of each, I beg to refer to Mr Owen's 

 papers. A specimen of the last species of these birds was 

 caught alive in a remote, unfrequented part of the south 

 island of New Zealand, in 1850, by some sealers, and kept 

 alive for several days, and afterwards killed and eaten ; but, 

 fortunately, the skin of this interesting bird, the link between 

 the living and the dead, the last perhaps of a race coeval 

 with the gigantic Moas, was preserved from destruction by 

 Mr Walter Mantell, commissioner of Crown Lands, Welling- 

 ton ; and facing the title-page of Dr Mantell 1 s beautiful 

 work on " Petrifactions and their Teachings," there is an 

 engraving of this bird, now denominated with great justice 

 and propriety Notornis Mantelli. 



The largest species of Moa — Dinornis robustus — is sup- 

 posed to have stood ten feet six inches in height ; but I 

 think this is under the mark, for I saw the complete leg of 

 a Moa put together (in a magnificent collection of bones in 

 the possession of Sir George Grey, which were unfortunately 

 destroyed in the conflagration of Government House in 1848), 

 and the head of the femur or thigh bone was six feet from 

 the ground. As the ostrich is seven feet high, and as 

 the head of its femur is about half the height of the bird, 

 I do not think (knowing that the legs of the ostrich are 



