THE "TALL BIRD'S" EGG.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1128, 16 May 1911, Page 5

THE "TALL BIRD'S" EGG.

NEW EXHIBIT IN CHRISTCHURCH , MUSEUM. (By Tclesraph.-Prcss Association.) Christchurch, May 15. Amongst the exhibits added to the Canterbury Museum this week there is the most interesting and valuable addition made to tho collection for many years. It is a cornplcto and genuine egg of : aepyornis maximus, the great bird of ! Aladagasear, which laid the biggest eg | known to the world. The aepyornis, "tail bird, like tho moa and the dodo, is extinct, but it is believed that it lived in Madagascar until recent geological times, it was wingless, and in other respects also resembles the moa, which it probably exceeded in height. With the moa, the kiwi, tho ostrich, the rhea of South America, and the emu and cassowary of Australia, it belonged to tho struth'iou* group of birds, which is distinct from all other birds, dead or alive, that have been described by scientists. The egg in the Canterbury Museum, when measured today by Mr. E. R. Waite, the curator was found to be HJin. long and B.!in broad. Its weight is 21b. 10!oz. It is not one of the largest specimens, come bainf from 13in. to 14in in diameter, and hav' ing a capacity equal to 148 eggs of the common .fowl. The shell in tho mu-1 scum is dirty, creamy white in colour, perfect in shape, and is largely pitted in all parts. The bird itself is known only from fossil remains found in peat bogs, like many moa remains, but never in great quantities, and specimens are rare. Tho eggs are only ovcasionallv found complete, a fact which adds valueto the one in Christ-church. The legbone, or tibia, of one species of aepyornis measures thirty-two inches, while the largest tibia of a moa is thirtv-ninc inches. The egg has been obtained h. Mr. E. F. Stead, who has placed it in the museum.