CHAPTER XXI. 



ANOMALOUS ISLANDS : NEW ZEALAND. 



Position and Physical Features of New Zealand — Zoological character of 

 New Zealand — Mammalia — Wingless Birds living and extinct — Recent 

 Existence of the Moa — Past Changes of New Zealand deduced from 

 its Wingless Birds — Birds and Reptiles of New Zealand — Conclusions 

 from the Peculiarities of the New Zealand Fauna. 



The fauna of New Zealand has been so recently described, and 

 its bearing on the past history of the islands so fully discussed 

 in my large work already referred to, that it would not be neces- 

 sary to introduce the subject again, were it not that we now 

 approach it from a somewhat different point of view, and with 

 some important fresh material, which will enable us to arrive 

 at more definite conclusions as to the nature and origin of this 

 remarkable fauna and flora. The present work is, besides, 

 addressed to a wider class of readers than my former volumes, 

 and it would be manifestly incomplete if all reference to one of 

 the most remarkable and interesting of insular faunas was 

 omitted. 



The two great islands which mainly constitute New Zealand 

 are together about as large as the kingdom of Italy. They 

 stretch over thirteen degrees of latitude in the warmer portion 

 of the south-temperate zone, their extreme points correspond- 

 ing to the latitudes of Vienna and Cyprus. Their climate 

 throughout is mild and equable, their vegetation is luxuriant, 

 and deserts or uninhabitable regions are as completely unknown 

 as in our own islands. 



