342 Transactiona. — Miscellaneous. 



My. Johu White, in bis " Ancient History of the Maori, "^ 

 in describing bow the Maori hunted the moa, according to their 

 tradition thereon, tells us that warriors were stationed along 

 the side of the paths leading through the scrub bushes armed 

 with spears, and that the birds were then driven from the 

 lakes and speared by those in ambusli. We may well ask 

 what the moa was doing, living at, or on, the big waters. 



The name " to-rejjo " would mean "one belonging to, or 

 about, repo (the swamp)," a very suitable name for a swan- 

 like moa. Mr. Tregear does not state his authority for con- 

 necting tarepo and Gnemiornis calcitrans together, which is to 

 be regretted. Possibly the authority is to be found in one of 

 the earlier volumes of the " Transactions of the New Zealand 

 Institute." 



The following is an extract from Nature of the 8th April, 

 1897, at page 534:— 



" The Affinities of Hesperornis. 



" In the autumn of 1870 I discovered in the Cretaceous 

 formation of Western Kansas the remains of a very large 

 swimming-bird, which in many respects is the most interest- 

 ing member of the class found living or extinct. During the 

 following year other specimens were obtained in the same 

 region, and one of them — a nearly perfect skeleton — I named 

 Hesperornis regalisr'- . . . The results of this and other 

 researches were brought together in 1880 in an illustrated 

 monograph.! 



" In the concluding chapters on Hesperornis 1 discussed 

 the affinities of this genus based upon a careful study of all 

 the known remains. Especial attention was devoted to the 

 skull and scapular arch, which showed struthious features, and 

 these were duly weighed against the more apparent charac- 

 ters of the hind limbs, that strongly resembled those of 

 modern diving-birds, thus suggesting a near relationship to 

 this group, of which Colynibus is the type. 



" In summing up the case I decided in favour of the 

 ostrich features and recorded this opinion as follows : • The 

 struthious characters seen in Hesperornis should probably 

 be regarded as evidence of real affinity, and in this case 

 Hesperornis wouki be essentially a carnivorous swimming 

 ostrich.' (' Odontornithes,' page 114.) 



" It is an interesting fact that this decision is now on 

 record a quarter of a century after the discovery of Hes- 

 perornis, and a decade and a half after its biography was 



* American Journal of Science, vol. iii., p. 56, January, and p. 360, 

 May, 1872. 



t "Odontornithes : a Monograph of the Extinct Toothed Birds of 

 North America," 34 plates, Washington, 1880. 



