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appear to have been the conditions of the former peculiarities of the Fauna of this 
island. Some at least of the characters of the skeleton of the Dinornis may well have 
related to rhizophagous habits. The unusual strength of the neck indicates the appli- 
cation of the beak to a more laborious task than the mere plucking of seeds, fruits, or 
herbage. The present small Apteryx of New Zealand has a relatively stronger neck 
than any of the existing Struthionide, in relation to the needful power of perforating 
the earth for the worms and insects which constitute its food. Such small objects can- 
not be supposed to have afforded sustenance to the gigantic Dinornithes: but the still 
more robust proportions of their cervical vertebra, and especially of their spinous pro- 
cesses,—so striking when contrasted with the corresponding vertebra of the Ostrich or 
Emeu,—may well have been the foundation of those forces by which the beak was asso- 
ciated with the feet in the labour of dislodging the farinaceous roots of the ferns that 
grow in characteristic abundance over the soil of New Zealand’. 
The great strength of the leg, and especially of the metatarsal segment, which is short- 
ened, as in the burrowing Apteryx, almost to the gallinaceous proportions, must have 
had reference, especially in the less gigantic species, to something more than sustaining 
and transporting the superincumbent weight of the body, and this additional function 
is indicated by both the analogy of the Apteryx and the Rasorial birds to be the scratch- 
ing up the soil. 
Thus far, at least, the positive facts justify the attempt to restore, and, as it were, to 
present a living portrait of the long-lost Dinornis ; and, without giving the rein to a 
too exuberant fancy, we may take a retrospective glance at the scene of a {fair island, 
offering, by the will of a bountiful Providence, a well-spread table to a race of animated 
beings peculiarly adapted to enjoy it ; and we may recall the time when the several spe- 
cies of Dinornis ranged the lords of its soil—the highest living forms upon that part of 
the earth, No terrestrial Mammal was there to contest this sovranty with the feathered 
bipeds before the arrival of man’. 
Without laying undue stress on the native tradition of the gigantic Eagle or ‘ Movie,’ 
cited by Mr. Rule’, or on that of the great creature of the cavern, called ‘ Moa,’ which 
first attracted the attention of Mr. Williams to the remains of the Dinornis; and ad- 
mitting with the cautious scepticism due to second-hand testimony, the tale of the still- 
existing nocturnal gigantic bird which scared the whaling seamen on the hill at Cloudy 
' « New Zealand is favoured by one great natural advantage, namely, that the inhabitants can never perish 
from famine. The whole country abounds with fern; and the roots of this plant, if not very palatable, yet 
contain much nutriment.” Voyage of the Adventure and Beagle, vol. iii, ‘ Darwin,’ p. 504. 
* Mr, Darwin says, ‘ It is a most remarkable fact that so large an island, extending over more taan 700 miles 
in latitude, and in many parts 90 miles broad, with varied stations, a fine climate, and land of all heights from 
14,000 feet downwards, with the exception of a small rat, should not possess one indigenous mammal.”—Loc. 
eit, p. 511. 
* Polytechnic Journal, July 1843. 
p2 
