CHAP. XXI.] 



NEW ZEALAND. 



447 



Wingless Birds, living and extinct. — Almost equally valuable 

 with mammalia in affording indications of geographical changes 

 are the wingless birds for which New Zealand is so remarkable. 

 These consist of four species of Apteryx, called by the natives 

 "kiwis," — creatures which hardly look like birds owing to the 

 apparent absence (externally) of tail or wings and the dense 

 covering of hair-like feathers. They vary in size from that of 

 a small fowl up to that of a turkey, and have a long slightly 

 curved bill, somewhat resembling that of the snipe or ibis. 

 Two species appear to be confined to the South Island, and one 

 to the North Island, but all are becoming scarce, and they will 

 no doubt gradually become extinct. These birds are generally 

 classed with the Sfcruthiones or ostrich tribe, but they form a 

 distinct family, and in many respects differ greatly from all 

 other known birds. 



But besides these, a number of other wingless birds, called 

 " moas," inhabited New Zealand during the period of human 

 occupation, and have only recently become extinct. These were 

 much larger birds than the kiwis, and some of them were even 

 larger than the ostrich, a specimen of Binornis maximus 

 mounted in the British Museum in its natural attitude being 

 eleven feet high. They agreed, however, with the living 

 Apteryx in having four toes, and in the character of the pelvis 

 and some other parts of the skeleton, while in their short bill 

 and in some important structural features they resembled 

 the emu of Australia and the cassowaries of New Guinea.^ 

 No less than eleven distinct species of these birds have 

 now been discovered ; and their remains exist in such 



correspond to the otter-like tracks, and the thick tail of an otter-like animal 

 may well have appeared " bushy " when the fur was dry. It has been 

 suggested that it was only one of the native dogs ; but as none of those 

 who saw it took it for a dog, and the points on which they all agreed are 

 not dog -like, we can hardly accept this explanation ; while the actual exist- 

 ence of an unknown animal in New Zealand of corresponding size and 

 colour is confirmed by this account of a similar animal having been seen 

 about a century ago. 



1 Owen, On the Genus Dinornis," Trans. Zool. Soc. Vol. X. p. 184. 

 Mivart, " On the Axial Skeleton of the Struthionid£e," Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 Vol. X. p. 51. 



