MOA-BIRDS.
Dinornis giganteus. D. elephantopus.
Height 12 feet. A smaller species.
Fig. 56.—A. Skeleton of the Elephant-footed Moa, Dinornis elephantopus, from New Zealand. B. Leg-bones of Dinornis giganteus, representing a bird over 12 ft. high.
r, b, footprints.
The Natural History Museum at South Kensington contains a valuable collection of remains of Moa-birds. These skeletons may be seen in Gallery No. 2 (at the end of the long gallery) in the glass cases R, R´, and S. Dinornis elephantopus (elephant-footed) is in front of the window. In D. giganteus the leg-bone (see [Fig. 56]) attains the enormous length of 3 ft., and in an allied species it is even 39 in.! The next bone below (cannon bone) is sometimes more than half the length of the leg-bone (tibia).
A skeleton in one of the glass cases has a height of about 101/2 ft., and it is concluded that the largest birds did not stand less than 12 ft., and possibly were 14 ft. high!
Dinornis parvus (the dwarf Moa) was only three feet high.