CHAPTER XXL 
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. 
