dinary agreement in point of the size of the bird [with my
deductions from the bones]. _Here_ are the bones which will satisfy you
that such a bird _has been_ in existence; and _there_ is said to be the
_living bird_, the supposed size of which, given by an independent
witness, precisely agrees."

[Illustration: ENCOUNTER WITH A MOA.]

The story told of the whaler appears to me to bear marks of truth. The
bold essay to explore, the terror inspired by the gigantic figure,
especially in the solemnity of night, the description of the manners of
the bird running and striding, so like those of the Apteryx, with which
its bones shew the Moa to have been closely allied, and the inglorious
return of the party without achieving any exploit, are all too
natural to permit the thought that no more than inventive power has been
at work.

And well may the colossus have inspired fear. The bones sent to London
greatly exceed in bulk those of the largest horse. The leg-bone of a
tall man is about one foot four inches in length, and the thigh of
O'Brien, the Irish giant, whose skeleton, eight feet high, is mounted in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, is not quite two feet. But
the leg-bone (_tibia_) of the _Dinornis_ we know measured as much as two
feet ten inches, and we have no reason to suppose, considering the
disparity that exists in the specimens examined, that we have seen by
any means the largest.

Additional reason for supposing these magnificent birds to have existed
not long ago, is found in the fact that specimens of their eggs have
been preserved. The circumstances attendant on the discovery and
identification of these possess a remarkable interest. In the volcanic
sand of New Zealand Mr Walter Mantell found a gigantic egg, which we may
reasonably infer to be that of either _Dinornis_ or _Palapteryx_, of the
magnitude of which he gives us a familiar idea by saying that his hat
would have been but just large enough to have served as an egg-cup for
it. This is the statement of a man of science, and therefore we may
assume an approximate degree of precision in the comparison.

I do not know the size of Mr Mantell's hat, but I find that the
transverse diameter of my own is six inches or a little more. If we may
take this as the shorter diameter of the ovoid, the longer would
probably be about eight and a half inches; dimensions considerably
greater than those of the Ostrich's egg (which are about six and a
quart