Extinct Birds Part 44

Of birds I have in my collection: One [male] ad. Shot at Whangarei, North Island, by Major Mair, in 1860. (This is the specimen figured in the Second Edition of the "Birds of New Zealand." I bought it with Sir Walter Buller's collection eighteen years ago. By a curious _lapsus memoriae_ Sir Walter Buller, in the "Supplement," p. 35, in 1905, states that this bird was in his son's collection.) One [female] ad. and one [male] in the first year's plumage, shot by Messrs. Walter Buller and E. French near Kaiapoi, South Island, in the summer of 1859.

Seven specimens are in the British Museum, the types in Paris, three in Cambridge, a pair in Christchurch in New Zealand, some in the Canterbury Museum, and doubtless many others, most of which have never been recorded.

{185}

DINORNITHIDAE.

MOAS.

The first announcement of the former existence of large Struthious birds in New Zealand was made by Mr. J. S. Polack in 1838. In his book _New Zealand_, he states that he found large bird bones near East Cape in the North Island. The first specimen, however, that came into the hands of a scientific man was the bone sent to Professor Owen in 1839 by Mr. Rule, who reported that the natives had told him that it was the bone of a large Eagle which they called "_Movie_." Professor Owen, with his extraordinary knowledge, at once saw that far from any connection with the _Raptores_, Mr. Rule's bone was a portion of a femur of a gigantic Struthious bird. He described it on November 12th, 1839, at a meeting of the Zoological Society, and it was figured on Plate 3 of Volume III of the Transactions of the Zoological Society.

The next notice of the Moas takes the form of a letter, received by Professor Owen from the Rev. W. C. Cotton, dated Waimate, near the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, July 11th, 1842; and in it the writer gives an account of his meeting with the Rev. Mr. Wm. Williams, a fellow missionary at East Cape. The latter had collected a lot of "Moa" bones and sent them to a Dr. Buckland. Mr. Williams also reported a conversation with two Englishmen, who declared they had been taken out by a native at night and had seen a Moa alive, but had been too frightened to shoot it.

On January 24th, 1843, Professor Owen exhibited a number of bones from Mr.

Williams' collection, and described them, giving the bird the name of "_Megalornis novaezealandiae_," afterwards changing the generic t.i.tle into _Dinornis_, as _Megalornis_ was preoccupied. Afterwards, when describing these bones and those contained in the second box of Mr. Williams'

collection more fully, he somewhat inconsistently changed the specific name to _struthioides_, which Captain Hutton, in his later cla.s.sification, retained. Following the laws of priority, however (_novaezealandiae_ has 10 months' priority over _struthioides_), we must reinstate the name _novaezealandiae_.

A number of other finds occurred between 1842 and 1847, but by far the largest and most important collections were made and sent home between 1847 and 1852 by the Hon. W. Mantell, who sent to Professor Owen many hundreds of bones and eggsh.e.l.ls, from which the Professor was enabled to determine and describe a large number of species, and even as early as this to separate some genera. {186}

The bulk of later finds were made by Sir Julius von Haast, Captain Hutton, and Mr. Aug. Hamilton, and the two most famous deposits were Glenmark Swamp and Te Aute; but it would take too much s.p.a.ce to give here an account of all the other extraordinary discoveries of Moa deposits made by such men as Dr. Thomson, Mr. Earl, Mr. Thorne, Dr. H. O. Forbes, and many others.

Besides many fragments of eggsh.e.l.l, a number of eggs have been found, which will be enumerated elsewhere.

Feathers have been found at Clutha River, near Roxburgh, and also in caves near Queenstown. Those from Clutha are mostly dark, being black with white tips; while the Queenstown ones resemble feathers of _Apteryx australis_ in colours. Professor Owen has shown that _Megalapteryx huttoni_ was feathered down to the toes, and in the plate I have represented it clothed with feathers similar to the Clutha ones, which I believe belong to this species. The Moas at one time must have been extraordinarily numerous, both in numbers and species, and they varied in height from 2-1/2 feet to 12 feet. Professor Parker has shown that some of the species had crests of long feathers on the head, and, as some adult skulls of the same forms show no signs of this, he infers that the males alone had this appendage. There has been much discussion as to the time when the Moas became extinct, and we know for certain that the two species, _Dinornis maximus_ and _Anomalopteryx antiquus_, belong to a much earlier geological epoch than the bulk of the other species. It would be too lengthy for my purpose to go into the arguments, but we can, by the study of the "_kitchen middens_" of Maoris and their traditions, fairly adduce that the Maoris arrived in the North Island some 600 years ago, that they hunted Moas, and that they exterminated them about 100 to 150 years after their arrival. In the South, or rather Central, Island, the Maoris appear to have arrived about 100 years later, and to have exterminated the Moas about 350 years ago. It is only fair to say, however, that Monsieur de Quatref.a.ges adduces evidence in his paper which goes far to prove that Moas existed down to the end of the 18th or even beginning of the 19th century in those parts of the Middle Island not, or scantily, inhabited by Maoris.

The _Dinornithidae_ form a separate group of the order _Rat.i.tae_, in no way closely related to the Australian Emu (_Dromaius_), as many ornithologists have a.s.serted, but nearer to the South American Nandu (_Rhea_) than any other living _Rat.i.tae_, though exhibiting many characters in common with the _Apterygidae_. There have been a number of cla.s.sifications set up of this family. The first by Reichenbach, in 1850, with 7 species and 7 genera! {187} The next was by Von Haast, in 1873, who enumerated 10 species, divided into 4 genera. The third was Lydekker's, in 1891, who acknowledged 23 species, divided into 5 genera. Then came Hutton's, in 1892, which left out _Megalapteryx_, with its then known 2 species, and acknowledged 26 species, divided into 7 genera. Lastly we have Professor Parker's, in 1895, in which again _Megalapteryx_ is left out, and 21 species are acknowledged, divided into 5 genera. There has been a great amount of controversy as to the number of species of Moas which really ought to be distinguished, and of late years there has been a tendency to unite most of the species as synonyms, the authors declaring that bones vary to such a degree that all the characters relied on for the distinguis.h.i.+ng of the various species were individual variations, and that, besides, it was impossible that so many distinct forms could have occurred in such a small area. The extreme of this lumping was reached when Professor Forbes, in the Bulletin of the Liverpool Museums, III, pp. 27 and 28 (1900), divided the Moas into six genera, each with a single species. He thus ignores the fact that by doing so he has united forms which were founded on FULLY ADULT bones, and yet some of them were only about half or two-thirds the size of the others. I personally think that too many species have been made, and at least 7 of Captain Hutton's forms must be sunk. On the other hand some have been described since 1895 and 1900, and I have been obliged to name others rather against my will, so that in spite of uniting so many species of others I find I am obliged to acknowledge more species than anyone else. I have divided these into genera according to Professor Parker's cla.s.sification, only adding _Palaeocasuarius_ of Forbes, with 3 species, and _Megalapteryx_, with 5, which brings my number up to 38 species, divided into 7 genera. My reasons for not uniting these into 7 species and 7 genera, as those of the "lumping school" do, are twofold,--first, the bones of the _Rat.i.tae_ are much more solid than those of other birds, and are not given to so much individual variation; and, secondly, in the face of the great number of species of Paradise Birds and Ca.s.sowaries found on New Guinea, the contention that there could not be so many species of Moa on so small an area is not easily maintained. Moreover, we have strong support in the present fauna and flora for the presumption that, when the Moas first came into existence and differentiated into species, New Zealand was a much larger area, stretching at least from the Macquarie Islands in the south to the Kermadecs in the north, and from Lord Howe's Island on the west to the Chatham Islands on the east. So that, like the giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands, {188} they only got driven so closely together after their specific differentiation, when the land gradually subsided, owing to volcanic action. The differentiation of the family is as follows:--

DINORNITHIDAE.

Skull with a short and wide beak. Pectoral girdle very small or absent, wing absent, only an indication in _Dinornis dromioides_. Hallux absent or present. An extension bridge to the tibio-tarsus, which is placed near the inner border of the bone. No superior notch to the sternum. Most of the species of very large size. The tarso-metatarsus is either long and slender or short and wide, and its anterior surface may or may not be grooved. The second trochlea is longer than the fourth, the third is not pedunculated, and there is no perforation in the groove between the third and fourth trochlea. In the tibio-tarsus the cnemial crest rises well above the head; the extensor groove is separated by a considerable interval from the inner border of the bone. There is a well-defined intercondylar tubercle; the intercondylar gorge is deep, and there is no deep pit on the lateral surface of the entocondyle. The femur may be either slender or stout, but is not markedly curved forwards. The popliteal depression is deep, and the summit of the great trochanter rises considerably above the level of the head. The pelvis approximates to that of the _Apterygidae_, but the pectineal process of the pubis is less developed, and the ischium and pubis may be longer and more slender. The coracoid and scapula are aborted and may be absent. The sternum, which may be either long and narrow, or broad and short, differs from that of the _Apterygidae_ by the absence of the superior notch, the divergent lateral processes, and the reduction of the coracoidal grooves to small facets or their total disappearance. The cervical vertebrae are relatively short, an expanded neural platform as far as the sixth.

In _Anomalopteryx_ and _Megalapteryx_ the number of cervical vertebrae is 21, and there are 2 cervico-dorsal and 4 free dorsal vertebrae, so it is fair to a.s.sume that this is the correct number throughout the family.

The feathers had after-shafts.

THE GENERA ARE AS FOLLOWS:

_Dinornis_ Owen.

_Palapteryx_ Owen, part.

_Palapteryx_ Hutton.

_Tylapteryx_ Hutton.

_Megalapteryx_ Haast.

_Anomalopteryx_ Lydekker, part.

*_Mesopteryx_ Hutton.

{189} _Cela_ Reichenbach.

_Dinornis_ Owen, part.

_Meionornis_ Haast.

_Anomalopteryx_ Lydekker.

_Mesopteryx_ Parker.

_Emeus_ Reichenbach.

_Euryapteryx_ Haast.

_Syornis_ Hutton.

_Dinornis_ Owen, part.

_Pachyornis_ Lydekker.

_Palapteryx_ Haast.

_Dinornis_ Owen, part.

_Euryapteryx_ Hutton.

_Palaeocasuarius_ Forbes.

*_Megalapteryx_ Forbes, part.

_Anomalopteryx_ Reichenbach.

_Meionornis_ Haast.

_Dinornis_ Owen, part.

I have adopted Professor Parker's cla.s.sification in the genera, only subst.i.tuting _Cela_ Reichenbach for _Mesapteryx_ Hutton, which is a synonym of _Megalapteryx_ Haast. As to the species I have used my own judgment; I felt obliged to name a number of species acknowledged by Parker and Lydekker but not named, because this system of indicating species by the letters A, B, C, &c., which has crept into our nomenclature, will make all understanding impossible, as not always the same species is denoted by the same letter. A few of these species will naturally later have to be sunk, as some have been founded on skulls and others on leg bones, or so, which, when we get perfect individual skeletons may prove to be identical, but I do not think these will be many.

Besides a number of imperfect eggs, particulars of which will be found in Dr. A. B. Meyer's article in the Ibis, 1903, pp. 188-196, there are known two perfect Moa eggs and one almost perfect one.

1. Otago Museum. Molyneux River, 1901. _Pachyornis pondorosus_.

2. Tring Museum. Molyneux River, 1901. _Megalapteryx huttoni_.

3. Rowley Collection. South Island, 1859. _Dinornis novaezealandiae_.

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DINORNIS.

The skull is broad and much depressed, with a comparatively wide, somewhat pointed and deflected beak. Breadth at the squamosals twice the height at basi-temporal. It has a flattened frontal region, and a wide median ridge on the upper surface of the praemaxillae. The mandible is in the form of a narrow U, with the angle much inflected, no distinct anticular process, and the symphysis moderately wide, narrowing anteriorly, with a prominent and broad inferior ridge, widest in front. The quadrate is elongated, with a very large pneumatic foramen. The sternum is nearly as long as broad, very convex, with distinct coracoidal facets, 3 costal articulations, very small and reflected costal processes, the lateral processes very broad and widely divergent, and a wide xiphisternal notch. The pelvis is narrow with a high ilium, in which the inferior border of the postacetabular portion is flat, and does not descend as a sharp ridge below the level of the anterior postacetabular vertebrae. The pubis has a small pectineal process; and the ventral aspect of the true and postacetabular vertebrae is very broad and much flattened.

The distal extremity of the tibio-tarsus is not inflected. A hallux is present in some species. The tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus are long and slender, the length of the latter equalling and more often exceeding the length of the femur, and also exceeding half the length of the tibio-tarsus. The femur is comparatively long and slender, with a short neck, the head rising but slightly and projecting only a small distance, the linear aspera in the form of a long irregular line, the outer side of the distal extremity moderately expanded, the popliteal depression small, deep, and sharply defined, the profile of the inner condyle semi-ovoid and narrow, and the interior trochlear surface nearly flat. The phalangeals of the pes are long and comparatively slender, the proximal surface of the terminal segments not being trefoil-shaped. In the vertebral column the middle cervicals are long and narrow, with the postzygapophyses directed much outwardly and separated by a very deep channel, and the posterior face of the centrum low and wide. The dorsals have short transverse processes and neural spine, the anterior and middle ones (those with a haemal spine or carina) having a large anterior pneumatic foramen between the nib-facet, the foramen being triangular in shape. All the species of this genus are of comparatively large size, and include the tallest members of the family.

Type of the genus: _Dinornis novaezealandiae_ (Owen).

Number of species: 7. {192}

DINORNIS MAXIMUS OWEN.

_Dinornis maximus_ Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. VI. p. 497 (1868).