3i4 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Whether or no, Dr. Shufeldt would seem to be of the same 

 opinion as myself — viz., that where you find birds of an early 

 and primitive type it is reasonable to expect their feathers to 

 resemble more or less those which we have found were carried 

 by the moas. I would therefore warn collectors of so-called 

 moa-feathers which may possibly be discovered at some future 

 date to consider the claim of poua and Cnemiornis as likely 

 one-time owners of somewhat similar feathers, and not to 

 connect all such with the moas onlv. 



Art. XL. — Moa and Toa — the Bird and the Tree. 



By Taylor White. 



[Read before the Haivke's Bay Philosophical Institute.} 



In vol. XXV. of the "Transactions of the New Zealand Insti- 

 tute " Mr. Edward Tregear gives a very interesting paper on 

 the etymology of the word " moa," which he maintams to be 

 nothing more nor less than the Polynesian name for Gallus 

 domcsticus, the domestic fowl. That this bird, so useful to 

 mankind, may be said to be the bird par excellence of the 

 Britisher we must all allow, for has it not. as time passed on, 

 monopolized three main words in the English language — 

 that of "fowl," or the bird, and the designation for male and 

 female in those of " cock " and " hen " ?"• That the fowl has 

 also proved as great a boon to the inhabitants of Polynesia I 

 do not doubt, but I am of opinion that first a large struthious 

 bird was known to the people of Polynesia under the name 

 " moa," possibly before these people came to the further isles 

 of the Pacific, and that after having left the lands where these 

 great birds were found some of the Polynesians became 

 possessed of the domestic fowl, and gave the now traditional 

 word "moa" to their new acquisition. But the time when 

 the fowl was brought to the islands was some time after the 

 Maori came to New Zealand, and the Maori was totally un- 

 acquainted with Gallus domesticus. 



Wheir the Maori of the later migrations reached New Zea- 

 land they found various large struthious birds still living in 

 that country, but which were almost exterminated by another 



* Captain Cook brought the fowl to New Zealand, say, fifty years 

 before the pakeha misBionary questioned the Maori as to the name for 

 the large bones found lying about, and the answer was, " They belong 

 to the moa, and those gizzard-stones are moamoa." Is the hen also 

 called " moa " ? for we see that word was not forgotten ; and why not ? 



