"2. This bird was in existence here at no very distant time, though not in the memory of any of the inhabitants; for the bones are found in the beds of the present streams, and do not appear to have been brought into their present situation by the action of any violent rush of waters. "3. They existed in considerable numbers"--an observation which has since been abundantly confirmed. "4. It may be inferred that this bird was long-lived, and that it was many years before it attained its full size." This is doubtful. "5. The greatest height of the bird was probably not less than fourteen or sixteen feet." Fourteen is probably the extreme limit. "Within the last few days I have obtained a piece of information worthy of notice. Happening to speak to an American about these bones, he told me that the bird is still in existence in the neighbourhood of Cloudy Bay, in Cook's Straits. He said that the natives there had mentioned to an Englishman belonging to a whaling party that there was a bird of extraordinary size to be seen only at night, on the side of a hill near the place, and that he, with a native and a second Englishman, went to the spot; that, after waiting some time, they saw the creature at a little distance, which they describe as being about fourteen or sixteen feet high. One of the men proposed to go nearer and shoot, but his companion was so exceedingly terrified, or perhaps both of them, that they were satisfied with looking at the bird, when, after a little time it took alarm, and strode off up the side of the mountain. "This incident might not have been worth mentioning, had it not been for the extraordinary agreement in point of size of the bird"--with his deductions from the bones. "_Here_ are the bones which will satisfy you that such a bird _has been_ in existence; and _there_ is said to be the _living bird_, the supposed size of which, given by an independent witness, precisely agrees." In spite, however, of several tales of this kind, it is almost certain that these birds are now quite extinct. The leg-bones sent to London greatly exceeded in bulk those of the largest horse. The leg-bone of a tall man is about 1 ft. 4 in. in length, and the thigh of O'Brien, the Irish giant, whose skeleton, eight feet high, is mounted in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, is not quite two feet. But some of the leg-bones (tibiæ) of Moa-birds measure as much as 39 inches.