V. DINORNITHES.
The Family Dinornithidae contains those well-known extinct New Zealand forms the Moas, as they are supposed to have been denominated by the Maories, some of which were of gigantic size. The larger species must have been comparatively rare, judging by the fossils obtained, while some seem to have survived until about four or five hundred years ago, or even a century later in the South Island. Being flightless, these birds were easily slaughtered by the natives, who were very fond of the flesh, and captured them when exhausted by repeated spear-wounds, after they had been driven from their retreats by burning the grass and vegetation. It was not until the year 1839 that a femur-shaft was exhibited by Owen to the Zoological Society of London, that being the first portion of a Moa known to have reached this country; but since the above date an immense quantity of bones of all descriptions have been procured in many parts of both the North and the South Islands, some hidden under the sand or exposed upon its surface, some in marshes and superficial deposits generally, and others in caves, hollows of rocks, or cooking places of the former inhabitants. Footprints have been observed in the sandstone; portions of muscles, ligaments, and even of skin have been discovered; and, most remarkable of all, feathers have been met with of fresh appearance and unfaded colours. Pebbles used to aid digestion, and eggs, both whole and fragmentary, complete the list.
Moas had comparatively small heads, and also small orbits and eyes; the bill varied, as will be seen below; the legs were stout, though not always equally so, a hallux being usually present; the wings were extremely reduced, or even wanting; the furcula was absent, and the aftershaft of the larger feathers was of great size. The neck is supposed to have been partially bare, while the webs of the rounded feathers were disunited and more or less downy below. Some of the latter were black, with red-brown bases and white tips, others were blackish-brown or yellowish.
Professor Parker, in his recent memoir,[[32]] proposes three Sub-families, Dinornithinae, Anomalopteryginae, and Emeinae; Megalapteryx, which he omits, possibly representing a fourth. The first of these contains only one genus, Dinornis, with wide convex sternum, comparatively slender limbs, broad skull, and long, wide, deflected beak; the height of D. maximus, the largest of the whole group, being estimated at about twelve feet. The second Sub-family comprises three genera, Pachyornis, Mesopteryx, and Anomalopteryx, forms of small or moderate height and varying bulk, with less broad skulls and pointed beaks, the sternum ranging from long and narrow to wide and flat. The third possesses a single genus, Emeus, in which the limbs are heavy, the strongly-built skull is narrow, and the beak short and broad. Pachyornis elephantopus has extraordinarily stout, short legs, while Anomalopteryx parva, perhaps the smallest Moa known, is said to have been about the size of a turkey. The validity of some genera and species is, however, questionable. Most writers think that the female was larger than the male. Mr. De Vis has described a fossil femur from Queensland as D. queenslandiae,[[33]] but it may belong to the Dromaeidae. According to native testimony the habits were sluggish, but the birds were dangerous to approach; they lived in pairs and fed upon green shoots and roots of ferns, making a nest of a pile of grass and leaves. We are told that the eggs found with the remains were dark green, light green, or yellowish, but the last colour at least probably refers to faded specimens.
VI. AEPYORNITHES.
Quite as remarkable as the Moas are the immense, massive-limbed forms of the Family Aepyornithidae, supposed by many to be identical with the "Ruc" or "Roc" of the Venetian traveller Marco Polo, and of the Arabian Nights. If this is the case, the size of the birds and their eggs must have been absurdly exaggerated, since the largest species known probably stood about seven feet high, and the egg is certainly not as big as a butt; nevertheless, the fact of the Roc being accredited to Madagascar makes it probable enough that the fables were engrafted upon Aepyornis, which was an inhabitant of that island. The eggs were first brought to the notice of ornithologists by Strickland in 1849, while soon afterwards Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire obtained two of them, with some fragments of bones.[[34]] These eggs, which exceed all others in magnitude, measuring some thirteen inches by nine and a half, have now been obtained in considerable numbers, with a large quantity of fossil remains of the birds themselves; and in consequence about twelve species have been indicated, and a second genus, Mullerornis.[[35]] It is supposed that some of them were in existence not more than two hundred years ago. The most salient points of their structure are the long, stout legs, with four toes and broad flat metatarsi, the apparently rudimentary humeri, the absurdly short keel-less sternum, and the frontal pits, indicating a large crest, comparable to that supposed to have existed in certain of the Dinornithidae.[[36]] The shell of the eggs, some of which contain two gallons, is used by the natives to hold liquor, and is slightly pitted.
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It will be remembered that, in the arrangement here followed, Dr. Gadow placed the Stereornithes under the head of Neornithes Ratitae, though not under that of Ratitae in the restricted sense; but it should be noted that their systematic position was not by any means assured, though justified by what was then known of these extraordinary fossils, of which the sternum has not even yet been brought to light. Remains of various forms, chiefly of gigantic size, have been disinterred from the Miocene strata of Santa Cruz in Patagonia, one of which (Phororhachos) was described in 1887 by Dr. Ameghino,[[37]] from its mandible as an Edentate Mammal, though four years later[[38]] he arrived at the more correct conclusion that the jaw was to be referred to a bird. In 1891, moreover, Señores Moreno and Mercerat[[39]] proposed a new Order with the name of Stereornithes, when publishing a series of fine plates; while Dr. Ameghino, who criticised their work, reduced the nine genera created therein to the smaller number of three.[[40]] Another paper by the author last named,[[41]] and two by Mr. Lydekker[[42]] should be consulted by those interested in the details of the subject, while an admirable summary will be found in Professor Newton's Dictionary of Birds. In a review of Dr. Ameghino's paper on these birds,[[43]] Mr. C. W. Andrews stated that Phororhachos and others of the "Stereornithes" were not truly Ratite, but were Carinate forms in which the wings had undergone reduction, and suggested that possibly they were related to the parent stock of the Gruiformes, approximating particularly to Cariama (Dicholophus). Shortly afterwards Dr. Ameghino's collection was acquired by the British Museum, and a study of the specimens themselves has not caused the reviewer to change his opinion.[[44]] Some members of the group (e.g. Mesembriornis) are perhaps truly Ratite, and one at least (Dryornis) belongs to the Cathartidae. Phororhachos is remarkable for the immense size and heavy build of the skull, to which the legs, huge though they sometimes are, bear no proportion; the maxilla is exceedingly compressed, yet very deep, and ends in a strong hook, while the long massive mandible curves upwards to meet it. There is a quite or nearly complete interorbital septum in this case, as opposed to Apteryx, and, to a considerable extent, to the Dinornithidae; while the nostrils are pervious, and the quadrate articulates with the skull by two heads, contrary to what occurs in the Ratitae proper. The furcula is existent, but extremely slender; the metatarsus is more or less elongated, the hallux is present, the wings are small but well developed, and the tail is said to be long, with a considerable number of separate vertebrae.
This genus includes the species P. longissimus, P. inflatus, P. platygnathus, P. modicus, P. gracilis, and P. sehuensis; Brontornis, which has a shorter and wider mandible and smaller but stouter metatarsi, possesses in B. burmeisteri a form as large as Aepyornis maximus, while Opisthodactylus and other proposed genera are too imperfectly known to deserve consideration in our limited space.
Besides the above, Dr. Gadow classed with the Stereornithes, Diatryma of New Mexico, known from a metatarsus; Dasornis of the London Clay, described from fragments of a skull; Remiornis from the neighbourhood of Rheims, of which several imperfect bones have been found; and Gastornis of both England and France, of which a fair number of parts have been unearthed. All occur in the Eocene, but the question of their relationship is by no means settled, and some writers consider Gastornis to be nearly allied to the Anseres. This form appears to have been of the size of an Ostrich, with long leg-bones and short weak wings, and was probably flightless. Three species have been propounded, G. parisiensis, G. klaasseni, and G. edwardsi.