The greater number of the remains
of these have been discovered in New Zealand, where there now
live several species of the curious wingless genus _Apteryx_;
and they have been referred by Professor Owen to several generic
groups, of which _Dinornis_ is the most important (fig. 257).
Fourteen species of _Dinornis_ have been described by the
distinguished palaeontologist just mentioned, all of them being
large wingless birds of the type of the existing Ostrich, having
enormously powerful hind-limbs adapted for running, but with
the wings wholly rudimentary, and the breast-bone devoid of the
keel or ridge which characterises this bone in all birds which
fly. The largest species is the _Dinornis giganteus_, one of
the most gigantic of living or fossil birds, the shank (tibia)
measuring a yard in length, and the total height being at least
ten feet. Another species, the _Dinornis Elephantopus_ (fig.
257), though not standing more than about six feet in height,
was of an even more ponderous construction--"the framework of
the skeleton being the most massive of any in the whole class of
Birds," whilst "the toe-bones almost rival those of the Elephant"
(Owen). The feet in _Dinornis_ were furnished with three toes,
and are of interest as presenting us with an undoubted Bird big
enough to produce the largest of the foot-prints of the Triassic
Sandstones of Connecticut.
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