MO AS. 
573 
ordinarily numerous in species, as they were also in individuals; such a 
marvellous exuberance of gigantic bird-life being unknown elsewhere on the face 
of the globe in such a small area. As regards size, the largest moas could have 
been but little short of 12 feet in height, the tibia being considerably over a yard 
in length; while the smallest were not larger than a turkey. And in reference to 
their numbers, it may be mentioned that there are some twenty species, arranged 
in about six genera; and the surface of many parts of the country, as well 
as bogs and swamps, literally swarmed with their bones. Some of the 
moas had four toes to the foot, and others 
but three, all differed from the kiwis in 
having a bony bridge over the groove for 
the extensor tendons of the tibia (as shown 
in the accompanying figure), and are there¬ 
fore evidently the least specialised members 
of the subclass we have yet referred to, 
seeing that this bridge is present in the 
majority of the Carinate birds, and has 
thus been lost in the existing Ratites. 
While agreeing in some parts of their organ¬ 
isation with the kiwis, the moas are distin¬ 
guished by the short beaks, and the presence 
of after-shafts to the feathers; and in the 
larger forms, at any rate, not only was the 
wing, but likewise the whole shoulder-girdle 
wanting. There is, however, reason to 
believe that some of the pigmy moas—which 
from their size were evidently the most 
generalised members of the group—retained 
some of the bones connected with the wing. 
The moas were represented by several very 
distinct structural modifications; the largest 
being the long - legged or true moas 
( Dinornis), characterised by their long and 
comparatively slender leg-bones, as shown 
on p. 295 of the preceding volume, and also 
In marked contrast to these were the short-legged or elephant-footed moas 
(. Pachyornis ), in which the limb-bones, as shown in the accompanying figure, were 
remarkable for their short and massive form ; the metatarsus being most especially 
noteworthy in this respect. In these birds the skull was vaulted and the beak 
narrow and sharp ; but in the somewhat smaller and less stoutly-limbed broad-billed 
moas (Emeus) it was broad, blunt, and rounded. The other species, in all of which 
the beak was sharp and narrow, are of relatively small stature, and include 
the smallest representatives of the family, some of which were less than a 
yard in height. The eggs of the moas were of a pale green colour, and probably 
formed a favourite food of the Maories, by whom these birds weie evidently 
exterminated. 
BIGHT TIBIA AND METATARSUS OP SHORT¬ 
LEGGED moa (£ nat. size). 
by their large and depressed skulls. 
