| We saw a complete skeleton of the giant
Moa. It stood ten feet high, and must have been a sight to look at when
it was a living bird. It was a kicker, like the ostrich; in fight it did
not use its beak, but its foot. It must have been a convincing kind of kick.
If a person had his back to the bird and did not see who it was that did
it, he would think he had been kicked by a wind-mill. - Following the Equator |
 AI image created by R. Kent Rasmussen |
| The Moa stood thirteen feet high, and could step over an ordinary man's
head or kick his hat off; and his head, too, for that matter. He said it
was wingless, but a swift runner. The natives used to ride it. It could
make forty miles an hour, and keep it up for four hundred miles and come
out reasonably fresh. It was still in existence when the railway was introduced
into New Zealand; still in existence, and carrying the mails. The railroad
began with the same schedule it has now: two expresses a week-time, twenty
miles an hour. The company exterminated the moa to get the mails. - Following the Equator |
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