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Art. II.—On the Presence of a Crest of Feathers in certain Species of Moa.
[Read before the Otago Institute, 10th May, 1892.]
Plates I.-III.
Any evidence as to the external characters of the moa is of interest. We know the general structure of the feathers, and of the thickened and scaly skin covering the feet, but hitherto the only direct evidence as to the appearance of the entire head is furnished by the magnificent specimen of Mesopteryx casuarina (Dinornis didinus, Owen) obtained near Queens-town in 1878, and forwarded to the British Museum in 1882 by Mr. H. L. Squires.* The specimen is covered with dried
[Footnote] * Sir R. Owen states that the discovery of this specimen was first noticed in the “‘Tuatara Times,' published at Otago in November, 1878.” The real name of this paper is the Tuapeka Times. The notice is quoted, as I am informed by Mr. A. Hamilton, in the Otago Daily Times of the 27th November, 1878.
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skin on which no feathers are retained, but, as Sir R. Owen says,* “their pits of insertion are manifest, slightly increasing in size towards the occiput and upon the cervical integument, where the pits become prominent.” This, of course, indicates that in the species under discussion the feathers on the head were quite small.
Through the kindness of Sir James Hector I have lately had the opportunity of examining an almost perfect moa's skull in the Colonial Museum, Wellington. It was found in 1879 by Mr. A. McKay, † on the Salisbury Table-land, Nelson, in association with the neck, and in my forthcoming paper on the skull of the Dinornithidœ is referred to as Mesopteryx, species b.
On the anterior region of the skull-roof in this specimen (Pl. I.) are numerous small shallow pits, from one to two millimetres in diameter. They are arranged in two symmetrical groups, a median space about 20mm. long by 15mm. in diameter being entirely free from them: the two groups are, however, connected immediately posterior to this bare area by a narrow band of small and shallow pits. They are absent on the supra-orbital ridge and on the pre-orbital process (lacrymal). The hinder boundary of the entire pitted area is a line joining the posterior borders of the post-orbital processes, its anterior boundary a line joining the posterior edges of the pre-orbital processes. On the right side the arrangement of the pits is quite irregular, but on the left they are arranged in more or less regular lines radiating from the curved posterior border of the pre-maxillary groove or depressed area on the nasals for the reception of the nasal process of the pre-maxilla.
In the skull of the type specimen of Dinornis torosus, Hutton, kindly lent to me by Mr. R. I. Kingsley, a similar pitted area is seen. There is, however, no bare space behind the pre-maxillary groove, and the pits extend forwards, on each side of the pre-maxillary groove, onto the exposed portions of the nasals, and are also continued onto the pre-orbital processes (lacrymals). Moreover, while very faint markings can be seen as far back as the posterior edge of the post-orbital process, the distinct, well-marked pits reach only as far back as its anterior border. As in Mesopteryx, species b, they are arranged in fairly-distinct radiating lines, and those in the middle—i.e., immediately posterior to the pre-maxillary groove —are much smaller than the rest.
In two skulls of Anomalopteryx didiformis, Owen, belonging to Mr. A. Hamilton, there are paired pitted areas, similar
[Footnote] * “On Dinrnis,” Part 24, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. xi., p. 257
[Footnote] † “Reports of Geological Explorations” (N.Z.), 1878–79, p. 131.
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Mesopteryx sp. b. showing Feather pits.
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Dinornis torosus.
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Anomalopteryx didiformis.
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to but smaller and less distinct than those of Mesopteryx, species b, only reaching as far back as the anterior border of the post-orbital process, and not extending on to the lacrymal.
Another skull of Anomalopteryx didiformis in Mr. Hamilton's collection has no trace of the pits; they are also absent in a skull in the Otago University Museum probably referable to D. torosus; and I have failed to find any trace of them in the following species: Dinornis robustus, Owen; Emeus crassus, Owen; Mesopteryx casuarina, Owen; two undetermined species of Mesopteryx, one of which may be M. geranoides, Owen; Pachyornis ponderosus, Hutton; Pachyornis elephantopus, Owen, and an undetermined species of the same genus.
I think there can be no doubt that the presence of these pits indicates that the moas in which they occur possessed a crest of stiff feathers in the anterior frontal region. For some time after coming to this conclusion I was unable to support it by the analogy of any other bird: in most cases where a distinct crest of feathers occurs it is situated in the occipital region, over the neck muscles, so that the feathers leave no impression on the skull. But Mr. Hamilton drew my attention to the fact that the skull of the green woodpecker (Picus viridis) is pitted in a very similar manner to the moas just described. On laying back the skin of the head in a stuffed specimen of this bird I found that the skull presented paired areas of shallow pits extending over the whole frontal region, and corresponding with the bases of the stiff red feathers of the crest which project through the skin. Similar pits occur on the ulna of Eudyptes, the wing-feathers of which are not large enough to give rise to the distinct elevations of bone found in birds with functional remiges. This evidence seems to show that a subcutaneous bone acquires feather-pits when the overlying feathers are larger and stiffer than the ordinary contour-feathers, but not large enough to be called quills.
The fact that certain individuals of a given species have a crest, while others show no indication of that structure, may perhaps be explained by supposing that the male alone was crested.
The following extract seems to show that the Maoris had a tradition assigning a crest to the moa. Dr. G. A. Mantell, in his “Petrifactions and their Teachings,” says, on the authority of his son, the Hon. Walter Mantell, that the natives “stated that its head and tail were adorned with plumes of magnificent feathers, which were worn and much prized by their ancient chiefs as ornaments of distinction.”*
[Footnote] * Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. iv., p. 74.
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Description of Plates I.-III.
[Note.—I am indebted to Mr. John Thomson, B.E., Lecturer on Applied Mechanics in the University, for the photograph from which the plates are taken.]
Plate I. Dorsal view of the skull of Mesopteryx, species b. (Colonial Museum, Wellington.)
Plate II. Dorsal view of the cranium of Dinornis torosus, Hutton. (Mr. R. I. Kingsley's collection, Nelson.)
Plate III. Dorsal view of the skull of Anomalopteryx didiformis, Owen, (Mr. A. Hamilton's collection, Dunedin.)
[Note.—Professor Parker, writing to Mr. Hamilton from York, in January, 1893, reports that the famous moa in the York Museum “has got splendid feather-pits on the skull.”—ed.]