EXTINCT BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [From the " New Zealand Journal," Aug. 24, 1850]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 509, 1 March 1851, Page 3

EXTINCT BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. [From the " New Zealand Journal," Aug. 24, 1850 ]

[Tun following is the outline of a lecture delivered by G. A. Mantell Esq., the celebrated geologist, before the Biituh Association, Edinburgh, «n August 4, to a lar^e and influential audience. The lecture was copiously jllußtruted by dianint'S and specimens of the fossil remains of the birds, and was listened to with the deepest interest an ! Attention-] Dr. Mantell referred to a singularity i'< the fauna of New Zealand, name'y, to the vast prcpordeidnce of the class Avis, or birds, tlut prevailed, and which still prevails, in that country, to the almost entire exclus'on of mammalia and leptilet. Such an assemblage of ihe fossil bones of birds as v.eve sent over to him fiom New Zealand by his son (Mr. Walter Mantell), was Defer before seen in Europe, either for extent or varii ty. '1 hey consisted of nearly 1,5(10 specimens, collected fr( m various parti of the country, with scarcely any intermixture of the remains of any other class. This startling phenomenon was no', however, confined to Ihe pist, for even at the present tim», the fauna of New Zealand presented a. character us ornithic and as anomalous as its ancient one; so that, while there were upwards ol fifty or sixty genera of bads, tbtie is but one indigenous mammHlian quadruped knonn 'o naturalists, viz., a species of rat. There whs some, thing also peculiar in the flora of the country as ferns, and other cellule-**, of peculiar typ>s, prtvail to an extent unknown elsewhere. The lectuier then adverted to the fossil remains of birds which had been discovered in that country, in particular refeirin£ to the colossal bird culled the Moa or Dinomis of New Zealand, On this part of his subject he in substance jsaid ; — The bones ol birds aie of extreme rarity in a fossil state Ihroughout the immense seties of the Paleozoic and secondaiy formations, — the accumulated sedimentary deposists of innumerable ages,— -no unquestionable indications of the txistence of this class of highly organised beings have been brought to light. In the Tn j ssic, or new red argillaceous sandstones of the valley of the Connecticut river, in North America, gome veiy remarkable phenomena have, however, been discovered, and which, in the opinions or many eminent observers, lender it highly probable that at the period when these strata were deposited, numerous birds, some of colossal magnitude, abounded on the then dry land. When slabs of these sandstones are split asunder, or exposed, so as to exhibit the sedimentary surface which separates one layer from auothcr, the foot-prints of many species of bipeds arf perceived deeply impressed on the stone, and disposed in such manner as to prove that they are the tracks oe animals that walked over the surface of the deposit when it was in a soft or plastic state. The close analogy of. these imprints to those of bird-.' feet, not only in their geneial lesemblance, but also in the disposition of the tiacks, and in the relation of the distance of the stride, and the depth and shsllovrneis of the impressions to the size of the icspective Icet, tends to corroborate the inference first enunciated by Proiessor Hitchcock, and subsequently coniirmed by other geologists, thai these mysterious mat kings on the rock are natural recoi ds of the existence of various tribes of birds during the Triassic penod •, but unfortunately the only certain evidence ot the correctness ot this opinion — remains of the skeletons—is wanting; not a vestige of a vertebrated animal of a higher class than fishes and reptiles has been discovered. In the vast fluvialile formation— the Wealden— of the south-cast of England, which abounds in the remains of teirestrial plants and reptiles, many fragments of bones of such tenuity as to indicate that they belonged to animals capable of flight, have from time to time been collected since my first discovery and announcement, in 1822, of supposed bud^' bones in the strata of Tilgate Forest. Some ot these relics Were declared by Baron Cuvier, and subsequently by Professor Owen, to be unquestionably those of birds ; probably some species of waders. But recent observations have rendered it doubtful whether all the specimens of this clat« from the Wealden, like those (torn htonesfield, one not to be regarded us referable to flying reptiles (Pteio'lactylea). In the chalk of Kent, several bones of averyjarge flying animal have been obtained from a,

quairy at But ham, n^ar Maidnone ; some of these nre figured and desciihcd in Professor Owen's b"autiful work on British fossil mammals and buds, as those ofa bird allied to the albatross ; but the occurrence in the same quarr of jaws with teeth, and other un loubtcd remains ofa eigantic Pteiodactyle, and ihe ab once in the sprcimcnsfiguredofosieologic.il cha a"teis exclusively ornithic, seems to support the conclusion that these also must be ascriocd to flying lepliles In the most ancient tertiary strata unquestionable vestiges of l> rJs occur ; in the Sub- Himalaya eocene deposits, th n y are associated with bones of the extinct elephantine mammalia of Indin j in those of the I'aris basin, with the lemnins of the Palseotheria &c. In the miocene aiiJ pliocene formations, the bones and even tg^ hells of several species and gcneia have btcn dete<t^d. The icmains of buds, however, even in eompai \iivelv recent deposits", were of such mre ocrunenre .is to be ranked by the collector of fossils among the most piecnus of his acquisitions ; but a few j eats :igo, a most extia- • rdinary discovery in out Antipodean olony, New Zealand, astonished and delighted lbs palaeontologist, by placing before him hundreds of bones of numerous extinct genera of bm!«, some of which far exceed in magnitude those of the most gigantic living 1 specie?— the Oitiicli. In vaiioin localities of the mai itime districts oi New Zealand, there had been ob^eived in the beds of livers and btreams, fossil booes of birds of colossal ruagni ude, belonging to miiny species and several genera, associated with similar relics of smaller species These bones had attracted the attention of tne natives lone; ere the country was visited bv Euro, peans ; and tiadiuons aie nfo ainoi'? the New Zealandera that tins nice formerly exised in great numbers, and seived as food to their remote ancestois. Tiny also believe that some oi the lar.es!; species have l>-en seen alive within the memory of man ; and even affirm that individuals still exist in the unfrequented and inaccessible piirts oi the interior of the country. '1 hey call the hi. d Moa, und state tint its bead and lail weie adorned with musjnificent plumes of feaih rs, which weie worn by their ancient chiefs as ornaments of distinction. Nine ypars since, n fiaitment of a thighbone oi a bin) larger than that of the ostrich was brought to England, and submitted to the examination of Professor Owen, who pionunnccd it to belong to a gigantic biri of the Stiulluous (ostrich) order. A lew years afterwards several collections ot vertebra?, bone-, of the extremities, &c. We c transmitted to England by Messrs. Williams, YVakefield, Earle, &c. which coiioboraleil that opinion, and proved that there loimeily existed in the island- of New Zealand colossal birds o( a type distinct from any knovwi in other paits of the woild. In li'.lfi and 1847, my eldest son Mr. Walter Aiunteil, nho Ins lesided in New Zealand seveial jeiis, mule cm ex'ensivfl and hit»iiiy inteiesun'j; collection of these fossil teiiimib, which amved in England in 1843. This sci.es contains skull", with the mandibles or bejk-<, bon-'s of otht i pans ot the skeleton, and portions of the e^g-shells, ot stveral extinct species and genera of birds, picsen'iug remarkable devia ions from the previously-known t^pes to which ihev most are allied. Tins valunbie accession to our knowledge of the ost'ology of this extinct race of oatuch-like birds, — some individuals of which must have attained a height fiom ten to twelve feet, — hna yielded important results as to the form, structure, and economy ot these I'oloasal biped , and the prevailing chdiauter ot the tcrres'rial fau.ia of New Zealmd, in veiy remote peno'ls. Tne collection, c ■ns>istn>Kof above 700 specimens, is now in the British Museum. It was obtained chit fly t\ ma a bed ol titanifeious lronsand, that had ei'dently beni washed down by torlents from the volcanic region of Mount Egmont,— that snow-capped nd,:e which forms so sinking a feature in the physical <rcegi iphy of the Noit" Island, and is the soiiici" of lh~ fie=h-water htieuma that discharge themselves into the ocean a!on£ tl.e western shore. Ihe tr>ict ot sand from which my son du^ up these reliiß, is on the coast near the embouchre of a smalt river called Wamgngoro beiween Wan^anm and Waimate. That stieaui evidently once flowed ino the -sea far from its present course, for lines Of cliffs extend inland from the now dry sand pit, and bear matkb ot the etosive action of cunents. A few months -ince, I re* civcd horn my s»n another most inteiest'n, coHeciion of tossil bones (comprising about 500 s f eutnenb), chiefly obtained from the eastern shorrs of the Middle Island of New Zealand, when engaged as Government Commissioner for the settlement ot native claims. These were dug up from a moiass of small extent, lying in the tittle cieeL, or bay at Waikouaiti, some twenty rui'es north of Ocago. This swamp which h only visible nt low water, is composed of vegetabl" fihies (app.iently ot the Phormium lenux), sand and animal matter. The bone 3 are of a deep blown colour, and almost as fresh as> if tecently taken Irora a tan-pit Among the specimens aie ciama and m mdibics, and bones o( enormous sue. The mo^t lemarkabie ,ire the entire io<es of phalan»eals, and the two tar&ohs metatais (twenty six in number) of the light and left Jout of the same individual bud (DinoT7W> lobustuij, which weie found standing erect one yard in advance ot the other, as if the bud had sunk into the mire, mid, unable to eitneole itself, bad perished on the ."pot. These bones were carefully exhumed and numbered seriatim, and aie the only instances of the bones of the loot and metatarsus found in natuial connection ; they are, consequently, .he first certain examples known ot the Bt mature of the teet of the colossal birds ol New Zealand. The fo. t of the Mos, to which these bones belonged, must have been sixteen inches long, and eighteen inches wide ; and the height ot the bird about ten feet. From the facts at pie&ent known as to the position of the obßiferous deposits of New Zealand, there is reason to conclude that they bear ihe same idation to the pitsent state of the coun ry as the alluvial loam and clay containing the bones of n.amoths, Irish elkb, &c. to that of Great Butatn I think we may safely infer, that, at a period geologically teeent, but historically veiy remote, those islands were densely peopled by tribes of ostrichhke biids of species and genera which have long t,ince become extinct ; that m&ny species existed contemporary with the Maories or native human inhabitants, and that the last of the family were exterminated, like the Iruii elk, and the Dodo, by man. If, as the natives afiirm, some of the race still eMst in the tmfiequented parts or the country, they are probably diminutive species, like the Aptnyx, oi Kiwi Kiwi, which is the only living representative U no wn to mturalists of thiß ones numerous tribe of colossal Struthlonidoe The only fo:>sil osseous lemainb from New Zealand, not referable to buds, are bones of two species of seals, one femur, and a few other bones of a dog. Associated with the lelics of the dinomisand oiher extinct genera, and unquestionably coeval with them, are crania, mandibles, und other bones of the living apecieaol aptuyx, albatros-s, penguin, uestor, water-hen, &c. The fragments of egg shells of dmorms fioni Rangatupu belong to thiee dietinct types, each of very lurgesizc. My sou, to convey au idea of the magnitude of one egg, of which he dug up a very large portion, says, "A gentleman's bat would m Ue a capital egg-cup for it." The matkmgs on the -Urface of the shtils bear a greater resemblance to those on ibe eggs of the rhcaand cassowary than of the osmch. A remarkable ljct mentioned by my son throws some lujht as to the compajntivcly recent extirpation of the

Moa. In odp spot the natives pointed out some little mounds covered with heibnge as consisting of heaps of ashes and bones, tie refine of the fires and feasts left by theii reino'e ancestors. Upon digging into them, a quantity of burnt bones was discovered : the^e belonged to man, mon, and dog, and were promiscuously intermingled. These cileine hones present no traces whatever either of the earthy powder or (itanifeious sail 1 ) which the cells and poies of the lo^il bones invariably ionium. If, as the natives affirm, these are the leject.imoiiui of the f- a^lsof th° aborigines, the practice of (.wnibalism tiy tlu n New Ze.dnnders must have been of wiy ,vic e;U d.i'c, and could not have originated, as Profes>snr Owen supposed, from the w.iut of animal food, in consequence of the extupalion of the co'oL&al hi: ds- The lecturer also stated, that the fja of the gigantic moa, from their sue, btrength, and structure, miut have contributed powerful mstinments for sciatchuig, digging and uprootine; the subterreiitridl vegetable ssubsl'inco, which Piofessor Owen with sre.it probability inli-iteil, formed thp chef sustenance of the extinct colossal biids of New Zealand. At the conclusion of the lecture, Dr. Robinson passed a high eulo'/iuvn upon the lecturer ; and on the nioposition of the President, Sir David Brewster, the cordial thanks of the meeting w^re unanimously accorded to Dr. Mantell.