The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-02-01
New FLIGHTLESS BIRD
FOUND ON TROPICAL island.
(

WRITTEN FOR I'll SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
So thoroughly has the world been explored
that the discovery of Il hitherto unknown
bird is n most notable event from a Zoologi-
cal viewpoint. Hence it is that the finding
| of a large species of water fowl on an island
of the Galapagos group has attracted the
| attention of naturalists everywhere. The
| matter Is additionally interesting for the
| reason that the bird in question Is unable to
| fly. 1t is a cormorant, and the only flight
less member of its family.
The Galapagos cormorants paddle about
among the reefs that surround Albemarie
Island, but, owing to their lack OF wings
nave never crossed the four miles of water
which separates them from the nearest Dill
of terra frma in the group. 1t Is quite a
little archipelago, comprising five big and
eleven small isles, and the line Oh the equa-
tor runs directly t~hrougllft.
On Charles and Chatam Islands thousands
of pussy cats, every one of them entirety
black. live in c~retiees OF lava near the
shore and get a living by hunting FOR craps
and fishes, but the most remarkapie ihhapi-
tants are giant land tortoises, some OIL
which have been known to weigh more than
eight hundred pounds. The group Is six
hundred miles west of Ecuador. to which
country It belongs. but some day Uncle sam
is likely 10 buy It for a coaling station.
THE FLIGHTLESS BIRD.
Recently there was captured in New Zea-
lane the fourth specimen ever seen. so far
as science has record. of a fishtless bird
called the n~otornls. 1t looks somewhat IKE
n goose and has a curious kind OF a Dill,
with a small red comb above 1t that stands
crpsswise. Though 1t cannot fly at all, Its
feathers being too soft and yielding, 1t Is
a first rate runner and one of It's odd traits
Is a weakness for thieviug. its special pas
sion being to steal everything 1t can lay
beak upon.
The first two specimens killed were sold to
the British Museum. where they are now
preserved: the third brought $500 in Dresden.
and 1850 Is said to have been refused LOT
the fourth, Just mentioned.
New Zealand has always been the great
Headquarters of fightless birds. 1t was sep
arated from the mainland some time before
the first mammals made their appearance
upon the earth. and consequently there were
no mammal there whatever. except a few
bats, until man arrived In the country. For
birds, therefore,. it was a vertitable paradise,
without a four legged enemy to fear. and
MANY species found SO little use for their
wings that those appendages almost disap-
peared. One OF these was the notornis,
which was supposed to be entirely extinct
until the fourth specimen turned up the
other day. Quite possibly there are others
still surviving.
Another filghtless bird of New Zealand is
the ~well-known apteryx, which is not a bit
like any other feathered creature in the
world.
THEN THE GIANT MoA.
There were several species of moa, the
largest of them attaining a height of IA
feet and a weight of fully 800 pounds. 1t
was a harmless creature, and even helpless.
being without power of flight and slow and
clumsy in all its movements. Besides, II
was extremely stupid.
1t was remarkable for its enormous legs
and feet, which were so heavy that 1t could
not run fast, and its determination was a
question, of only a very short time when
man had arrived on the scene As many as
400 skeletons of these birds. fairly complete,
been dug out of a single swamp, and
the National Museum at Washington pos
sesses a thigh bone that is more than three
feet long. The eggs OF these huge fowls
were epual in size to six ostrich eggs, and
about half ii dozen OF them are new pre-
served IN museums. A silk hat would Just
about make a suitable egg cup TO hold the
contents of one.
The bird that is not a flyer stands a poor
chance for survival in these days. 1t Is now
just about sixty years since the great aux
became extinct, and an egg of this species
Is worth to-day $500. There are about sew
of the eggs In existence, and the
last one sold was disposed of at auction in
l1OIluOn IN lSul IOT si,-OV- III INV u peElctt
brought N,67s.
Yet there was a time. IN the early part
OF the Nineteenth Century, when people
used to collect great aux eggs on Funk
Island by thousands for food, while the
helpless fowls, which could not fly at all,
though they were wonderful swimmers,
were utilized wholesale as bait for fisher
men.
Funk Island is a lonely rock thirty-two
miles out at sea off the coast of Newfound-
land. TIT early settlers of that country de-
pended to Il large extent upon the flesh
eggs of the great aux for food, and
were accustomed to make trips for the pur-
pose of obtaining the birds, at regular in
tervals and often at great risk. to the far
off isiet. which was the principal breeding
place and last retreat of the species.
Sometimes the unhappy fowls We're herded
in corrals, quilt by setting stone
slabs on edge. and were kept confined in
his manner until they were wanted. They
so fat that it is said they were some
lines used as fuel for cooking. The final |
destruction of the great aux, however, was
lue to the demand for its feathers. and
when at length it succumbed, its extinction
anne so suddenly as to take naturalists I'M
Thus it came about that there ex- |
st to-day only a very few skin and eggs |
in museums. !