In the chalk of Kent several bones of a very large flying animal have been obtained from a quarry at Burham, near Maidstone; some of these are figured and described in Professor Owen's beautiful work on British Fossil Mammals and Birds, as those of a bird allied to the Albatross; but the occurrence in the same quarry of jaws with teeth, and other undoubted remains of a gigantic Pterodactyle,[90] and the absence in the specimens figured of osteological characters exclusively ornithic, seem to support the conclusion that these also must be ascribed to flying reptiles. [Footnote 90: These fossils are in the splendid museum of J. S. Bowerbank, Esq. of Highbury Grove, Islington.] In the most ancient tertiary strata unquestionable vestiges of birds occur; in the Sub-Himalaya eocene deposits, they are associated with bones of the extinct elephantine mammalia of India; in those of the Paris basin with the remains of the Palæotheria, &c. In the miocene and pliocene formations, the bones and even egg-shells of several species and genera have been detected. The remains of birds, however, even in comparatively recent deposits, were of such rare occurrence as to be ranked by the collector of fossils among the most precious of his acquisitions; but a few years ago, a most extraordinary discovery in our Antipodean colony. New Zealand, astonished and delighted the palæontologist, by placing before him hundreds of bones of numerous extinct genera of birds, some of which far exceed in magnitude those of the most gigantic living species, the Ostrich. In various localities of the maritime districts of New Zealand, there had been observed in the beds of rivers and streams, fossil bones of birds of colossal magnitude, belonging to many species and several genera, associated with similar relics of smaller species. These bones had attracted the attention of the natives long ere the country was visited by Europeans; and traditions are rife among the New Zealanders that this race formerly existed in great numbers, and served as food to their remote ancestors. They also believe that some of the largest species have been seen alive within the memory of man; and even affirm that individuals still exist in the unfrequented and inaccessible parts of the interior of the country. They call the bird _Moa_, and state that its head and tail were adorned with magnificent plumes of feathers, which were worn by their ancient chiefs as ornaments of distinction.