INTRODUCTION. 
xxv 
namely tl a ^. an con ^ nen t- Two points of considerable interest were established by this specimen, 
power a x ^ enc e, at any rate in this species of Moa, of a strong hind toe with almost grasping 
rQ secondly the lemarkable fact that the tarsus was feathered right down to the toes. 
durin tl newly ' dlscovered s P ecies (D. parvus) was founded on a nearly complete skeleton procured 
thus aff truction of a new load, about forty miles to the north-west of Nelson. The opportunity 
deter ' ' eXaixdrdn £> entire osteology of a single bird was of extreme importance in the final 
(Otis t na 10n ^ eneidc c i iarac ters. In size Dinornis parvus was scarcely superior to the Bustard 
W 7 ’ and ’ althou g h the smallest known member of this race of Struthious birds, it had 
remark a ^ y tbe bxr S es t skull of all the Dvnornithidce. On this curious fact Owen thoughtfully 
°r folia ^ P ecu li a rly nutritious roots of the common fern contributed, together with buds 
locomobT ° f 11 6eS ’ t0 th<3 f °° d ° f the Vari ° US s P ecies of Moa > the concomitant gain of power in the 
™ , 6 and Possoibd limbs does not appear to have called for a proportionate growth or develop- 
ment of brain or of bill. 
stor of" tV tUld)ai ' y de P os l ts °f New Zealand had not yet yielded up the whole of their wonderful 
necro T P bn year it was discovered that the Glenmark swamp was a veritable 
from th * tinct birds. It is said that portions of no less than eighteen skeletons were dug up 
about te 6 WhenC6 M ' a j or Michael obtained his leg of Dinornis maximus and within an area of 
able zeaT ° ^ et ' ^ nder the ab l e direction of the late Sir Julius von Haast, and with indefatig- 
wag on 1 c ^° Se ^° ssd remains were exhumed literally by thousands, sent to the Canterbury Museum in 
^ , S ’ SOlted and classified there, and then distributed among the museums of the world, 
producing in wti,™ i . & ’ 
various ki d by a J udlcl0us system of interchange, some £20,000 worth of specimens of 
„ . ’ and helping materially to place the Canterbury Museum in the proud position which it 
now occupies in the Colony. 
manner and^ 8 HaaSt wor ^ ed out the collections which he had formed in a very painstaking 
minute VT PUbllShed the result s in an Address to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury. His 
a very rem c k S nreasurements over a wide field of specimens had the effect of confirming in 
and specific dis ' 6 manner the conclus i°ns arrived at previously by Sir Richard Owen as to generic 
part of a skelet mCtl0nS ’ altllcm gk the se were not unfrequently based on a single bone or fragmentary 
the Moa Vf ^ mos ^ iniportant discovery was that of the existence, contemporaneously with 
the name ° . a Slg!mtlc bird of P re D far exceeding the Golden Eagle in size, to which Haast gave 
discusse 1 b ^ arpagornis moorei. The evidence of this furnished by the fossil remains was fully 
and Was b ^ dlSC ° Verer in a P a P er Published in the Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute * ; 
-p , ecome a favourite theme of speculation whether the true function in life of this great 
-ttciptor was nof tn * ^ 
w P le y u P°n the smaller species of Dinornis , or the chicks or young broods of the 
more gigantic forms. 
• d and smader species was afterwards described, under the name of Harpagornis assimilis; 
nnlikely that this was the male of PI. moorei , the disparity in size, which is the only 
difference, being thus easily explained. 
instances til ' ' S won drons store of bones, so intermixed and packed together that in some 
Sir Julius H W<?le twenty-five or thirty specimens from different birds imbedded in one solid mass, 
st had afterwards the opportunity of examining another interesting collection of Moa-' 
* Yol. iv. pp. 192-196. 
d 
