stood about 12 feet high, and were bigger than ostriches, there were other and much smaller types of the same order. One of these still survives: it is the so-called wingless Apteryx, which comes out at night, and with its long beak searches for worms. These Moas, of many sorts and sizes, probably still lived in the three islands of the New Zealand dominion when they were first discovered by the Polynesians; but being without any adequate means of defence, and quite unable to fly, they were soon exterminated, only the nocturnal Apteryx remaining. It is possible that these great ostrich-like birds reached New Zealand from the direction of Queensland and New Caledonia. [New Caledonia possesses one bird, which is found nowhere else in the world, though it has relations in South America. This is the Kagu, a pretty, grey, heron-like creature, which is really a sort of dwarf crane.] Two other remarkable bird developments once existed in New Zealand: a large, flightless goose (_Cnemiornis_), and a huge, thick-set Harpy Eagle (_Harpagornis_). This last no doubt fed mainly on the Moas, and died out when they became extinct. New Zealand has only one kind of frog, no snakes, no tortoises, and only one true lizard (a Gecko), but it possesses all to itself an indigenous reptile of the greatest possible interest. This is the Tuatera (or _Sphenodon_), now restricted in its range to three or four islets off the northernmost coasts of New Zealand. Once this creature, which is about 3 to 4 feet long, ranged over the whole of New Zealand. It has been killed out mainly by the white settlers, and unless some effort is made will soon have disappeared altogether. This would be a great pity, for it is one of the most interesting of living things. It is the scarcely changed descendant of a very early order of reptiles which came into being millions of years ago and inhabited Europe and Asia. CHAPTER II The First Human Inhabitants of Australasia