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dromioides, casuavinus , rheides , crassus , gravis , gracilis ? 
geranoides , robustus , elephant opus, curtus, and maximus. The 
last two exemplify the opposite extremes of size in the extinct 
genus. 
Our knowledge of these extinct wingless birds, is not, however, 
restricted to their osteology. Some have left their remains in 
caves, and under other conditions, which have enabled us to 
study and compare portions of their skin, and even their 
plumage. The feather, as in other flightless birds, had loose 
barbs, and it was provided with an after-shaft, two feathers 
growing out of one quill, as in the cassowary. Of the skin of 
the sole of the foot, and of the form and substance of the toes, 
I have had evidence from footprints in tidal clay, and from casts 
of such ; I have also received evidence of the eggs of the 
Dinornis . Perhaps one of the richest localities of the remains 
of these extinct birds of New Zealand was discovered by the 
Rev. Richard Taylor, M.A., of the missionary station at Wan- 
ganui, near or along the shore at Waimate. “ It appeared,” 
he wrote, “ to be a regular necropolis of the race.” From this 
locality was obtained the specimens subsequently obtained by 
purchase from Mr. Walter Mantell, for the British Museum. 
The spread of colonies in different parts of both islands of 
New Zealand, with concomitant growth on my part of corre- 
spondence and appeals for search, collection, and transmission 
of fossil remains, have resulted in a corresponding harvest of 
such evidences, from which, besides the confirmation and re- 
storation of the above-cited species of Dinornis , indications of 
other extinct wingless or short-winged birds have been received. 
They have included two kinds of coot, one ( Notornis ), of the 
size of a turkey, the other ( Aptornis ), nearly as big as a casso- 
wary ; a third kind of bird ( Gnemiornis ), in the leg-bone of 
which characters like those of a natatorial bird ( Golymbus ) were 
pointed out,* was subsequently shown by Dr. Hector, of Wel- 
lington, New Zealand, who obtained an entire skeleton, in the 
North Island, to be most nearly allied to a large anserine bird 
( Cereopsis ) still living in Australia-! But in the still larger 
extinct goose of New Zealand, as in the large coots and kivis, 
the wings had become too small for flight. 
The most remarkable exception to this flightless character of 
the extinct birds of New Zealand was discovered in the (Den- 
mark swamp, in the form of bones having the nearest resem- 
blance to those of the Kahu Harrier-kite of the island ( Circus 
Gouldi ), but of a size surpassing those of the largest condor or 
* “ Trans. Zool. Soc..” vol. v. (1865). 
t “ Proc. Zool. Soc.,” 8vo. 1874. “ Wingless Birds of New Zealand,” 4to. 
vol. i. pp. 238, 365; pis. lxvi.-lxx. xcv. ci. civ. 
