THE NATURALIST. 



wave of the unstal:)le and ever-shifting crust of the earth, of which the op- 

 posite end, after having been long snbmerged, has again risen with its accu- 

 mulated deposits in North America, shewing us in the Connecticut sand- 

 stones of the Permian period the footprints of the gigantic birds which trod 

 its surface before it sunk ; and to surmise that the intermediate body of the 

 land-v/ave, along which the dinornis may have travelled to ISTew Zealand, has 

 progressively subsided, and now lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. 



The bones of the moa are found alongside of human remains, seals, and 

 birds of existing species ; they have cartilage, and other animal matter about 

 them j and some have been seen in a fossilized state. Professor Owen deems 

 it probable that the race became extinct shortly after the arrival of the first 

 Malayan immigrants. Being the only large animals in the country which 

 could be used as food, it is very natural inferentially, to suppose that they 

 vfere made an object of the chase before anthropophagy was resorted to. But 

 how, it may be asked, should these great and powerful birds have perished, 

 when the comparatively small and feeble apteryx has survived 1 In the 

 struggle for existence (according to the Darwinian theory), upon which 

 depends the permanence of the different genera and species, mere size and 

 strength are of little importance. The dinornis, with its bulky form, would 

 require a much more extensive feeding and breeding ground than the burrow- 

 ing apteryx ; and hence the encroachments of man would operate more 

 severely on the former. Its large size would also render it a conspicuous 

 and tempting object to the hunter, while the smaller bird would secure safety 

 by its comparative insignificance. The preservation of the apteryx is also 

 due in no small degree to its nocturnal and excavating propensities, for, on 

 the least sign of approaching danger, its natural modus operandi would be to 

 seek concealment in its subterranean retreats. There can, however, be little 

 doubt that at least isolated and solitary specimens of the moa were alive in 

 New Zealand within a recent period, and in all probability subsequent to the 

 foundation of the British colony. Hence, there has always prevailed a hope 

 that a living specimen of the huge creature might still be found. Sixteen 

 years ago, Mr. Walter Mantell explored every district, in the North Island, 

 where the residuary bones of the moa had been found, and subjected the 

 natives to a careful examination on the subject, but came back convinced 

 that the moa was either extinct, or represented in the scale of existence by 

 diminutive descendants, no larger than the apteryx. Although Mr Mantell 

 failed in discovering the object of his search, he fell on the track of a con- 

 tem^porary of the moa, in one of his visits to the Middle Island. This bird, 



