Year: 1879




gantic birds given by an Arabian writer
of the tenth century-name not stated
who has written on the "WOnderS of
India" by this term meaning all the
countries washed by the Indian Ocean.
OF course there is great deal OF fable
in what is set forth, in view of so much
coming from mere hearSay, but NJ. Devic
rightly observes that traditions gener-
ally have some foundation In truth ;
moreover, his object is merely to en-
deavor to cast some historical light on
the remains of the gigantic birds, the
dodo or Hpiornis for instance, which
have been found in quartenary or earlier
geological strata. Thus the Arabian
author speaks of shipwreck, in which
seven sailors got out of an inhoSpitable
island by tying themselves, one by one,
like Sinbad, to the legs of an enormous
bird. In another case some seamen
killed fowl "as bic as bull" but af-
ter having eaten of its flesh were disa-
greeably surprised at finding that all
| the hair of their bodies came off, so that
they found themselves bald and
beardless. The authenticity which
this Oriental author considers
sufficient to warrant him in
believing and recording such recitals is
not little amusing, thus: GA sailor
told me he had heard people say that at
Solfala there was a bird that would take
up wild beast in the air, let it fall to
kill it, then pounce upon and devour it.
Another bird would do the same with
the colossal tortoises of this negro
country Again, ga renowned Cap
tain of those who 90 to the gold coun-
try had seen a gigantic bird that had
killed an elephant and had eaten a
quarter of it, when the bird was itself
slain by means Of poisoned arrows; the
king of the negroes got the feathers Of
its wings, and the quills were large
enough to contain "twO skinstul Of
water in another passage it is even
related a man was seen leading two
bulls laden with twelve gigantic quills
filled with water.


Passing from the romantic or fictitious
to the more recent and definite, mention
may be made of a very remarkable
East Indian variety of the tumbler
pigeon" called the Lotan, lately de-
scribed by travelers-a variety which
has been known in that country as pos
sessing certain peculiarities trans
mitted from generation to gen
Grafton for nearly three hundred
years. 1t is only necessary to shake
this bird; or, in the case of one variety,
to touch it on the neck with stick in
order to make it roll over on the ground.
This it continues to do with great
rapidity until utterly exhausted, SO that
it may die unless taken up, held in the
hands and soothed, when twill recover.
The habit or phenomenon thus exhibited
is believed by some to be a hereditary
transmission of possibly some accidental
injury to the brain, as it is well known
that if the base OF the brain of a pigeon
be pricked with needle, the bird will
roll over backward as do the ground
tumblers. One pigeon, thus pricked by
way of experiment, is stated to have re-
covered perfectly, but continued ever
afterward to perform somerSets like a
tumbler, although not of the breed.
The movement is described as being of
the nature of a recurrent spasm or con-
vulsion, which throws the bird back
ward, as in tetanus; it then recoverS its
balance, and is again thrown backward.
Whether the performances OF the COM
mon tumbler, which are carried on in
the air, are related to those of the
ground tumbler, appears to be a matter
of uncertainty.


Attention has again been directed, by
travellers in New Zealand, to the re-
mains of the gigantic and wonderful
moa bird of that country, and which,
among ornithologists of all lands, has
always been regarded with peculiar in
terest. DR.. Hector now demonstrates
most conclusively that the knowledge
of their former existence was not COM
municated to the natives by Europeans,
who deduceS their existence or structure
from their remains, but, on the contra
ry, was impaired to the latter by the
former. He believes there is no hope
of ever finding this bird alive, for he
himself has been over the whole of the
country very thoroughly without sight
of them, and satisfied himself that the
region occupied by primeval forests be-
fore the advent of Europeans was that
in which moa bones did not occur. His
conclusion is, that the birds lived in the
open and low scrub, in which they could
walk; in all this region, the moa bones
are extremely abundant in the South
Island. In the enormous extent of sub
alpine country in the South Island,
which is covered by only light vegeta-
ton, large quantities of well preserved
moa remains are found associated with
remains of natives. 1t seemed as if the
natives had pressed up into the country
% Ntt,,t t,,,S.