Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1889 — The Moa Bird [ARTICLE]

The Moa Bird

Notwithstanding the great number of birds the Bird Puzzle made U 3 familiar with, we are always reading about one we never heard of before. There is the “parson” bird, for exam* pie, of which we have seen a description recently. It lives In Australia, and gets its name from its black color and the two white feathers under its chin, that looks like the ends of a clergyman’s necktie. But the most wonderful bird was the now extinct Dinornis, or Moa bird, of Australia. It lived there in the time of the Maoris, and was exterminated about 200 years ago. Skeletons of the Moa'have been found that show the' height of the bird to have been from fourteen to sxteen feet. They were' slain as food, for being wingless and very stupid, they easily fell a prey to man. That accounts for their extinction in the first two or three centuries of the Maoris’ presence in Australia. —Philadelphia Times.