In the course of the year 1851, an account was circulated of the
discovery of an immense egg, or eggs, in the Island of Madagascar. The
size of the eggs spoken of was so disproportionate to that of any
previously known, that most persons received the account with
incredulity; and, I must confess, I was one of this number. Being in
Paris soon after hearing of this report, I made inquiry on the
subject, and was surprised to learn, that the great egg was actually
existing in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. In a few days I
had an opportunity of seeing a cast of it in the hands of the artist,
M. Strahl, of whom I solicited one. He informed me that it could not
be obtained at that moment; but that, if my request were made known to
the Administration of the Museum, he had no doubt they would accede to
it. I accordingly did apply, and also presented them with the cast of
a perfect head of Mastodon Giganteus; and they very liberally granted
my request.
The distinguished naturalist, Professor Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the
second of that honorable name, has made a statement to the Academy of
Sciences, which, though only initiatory, contains many facts of a very
interesting nature, some of which I have had an opportunity of
verifying; and to him we are indebted for a greater part of the
others.
The eggs sent to me are, in number, two; one of which was purchased by
M. Abadie, captain of a French vessel, from the natives. Another was
soon afterwards found, equal in size. A third egg was discovered in an
alluvial stratum near a stream of water, together with other valuable
relics of the animal which had probably produced them; but,
unfortunately, it was broken during transportation. Of the two eggs,
one is of an ovoid form, having much the shape of a hen's egg; and the
other is an ellipsoid.
The ovoid egg is of enormous size, even when compared with the largest
egg we are acquainted with. Its long diameter exceeds thirteen inches
of our English measure, its short diameter eight, and its long
circumference thirty-three inches. Its capacity is thought to be equal
to eighteen liquid pints, or to be six times greater than that of the
largest egg known to us (the ostrich), although but twice its length.
It is said to be equal to a hundred and forty-eight hen eggs. The
ellipsoid egg has its longest diameter somewhat less than that of the
ovoid; its short diameter nearly equals that of the other egg, being
more than eight inches. The third egg, although broken, has been very
useful to science, by displaying the thickness of the shell, which is
about one-tenth of an inch.
The bones, of which I have received the casts, are three in number,
and of great interest. One of them is a characteristic fragment of the
upper part of a fibula; the other two, still more interesting, as
enabling us to determine the class and genus of the animal to which
they belong, exhibit the extremities of the right and left
tarso-metatarsal bones. The former is somewhat broken; the latter is
nearly perfect, and exhibits the triple division of the inferior
extremity of the bone into the three trochleae or pulley-shaped
processes of the struthious birds. It might be mistaken for a bone of
the great Dinornis, but is distinguished from this by the flatness of
the portion above the trochleae. Still less is it one of the bones of
the ostrich, its three pulleys being separated from each other by
distinct intervals; whereas the pulleys of the ostrich have only one
such separation, constituting two distinct eminences.
M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire considered himself justified, from these and
other facts, in deciding this bone to belong to a bird of a new genus,
to which he gives the name of EPYORNIS, from _aipys_, _high_,
_tall_, and _ornis_, _bird_; and, as probably it is a specimen of the
largest animal of the family, he affixes the specific name of
_maximus_.
The size of this bird, inferred from that of its egg, would be vastly
superior to that of the ostrich. But if we notice the comparative size
of the trochleated extremity of the tarso-metatarsal bone, we shall
see that its height would be greatly exaggerated by adopting such a
basis for its establishment; in fact, it would not probably exceed a
height double that of the ostrich. And, though it must have been
superior to that of the Dinornis maximus of Prof. Owen, it might
perhaps excel it only by the difference of two or three feet. A bird
of twelve or thirteen feet in height would, however, if we stood in
its presence, appear enormous, and must have greatly astonished and
terrified the natives of Madagascar. Whether it now exists is
uncertain, as it may possibly have a habitation in the wild recesses
of the island, which have never yet been visited by any European
traveller.
The credit of most of the observations and discoveries relating to
this remarkable bird is attributable to French naturalists;[A] and it
seems to be a duty devolving on English and American navigators to
complete the history thus happily begun, and to tell us whether the
Epyornis still exists in the mountain-forests of Madagascar, or at
least present us with its extraordinary relics.
[Footnote A: The following are the names of French travellers, who
have been supposed to have seen the eggs of the Epyornis in the
Island of Madagascar: M. Sganzin, in 1831; M. Goudot, in 1833; M.
Dumarele, in 1848; and M. Abadie, in 1850.]