344 Transactions 



trace of a moa having been cooked in a Native havgi or of being disturbed 

 by a horde of hungry hunters. For miles along the coast near Wainui 

 South nioa-bones and broken pieces of egg-shells are common. I have seen 

 entire skeletons exposed following long-continued easterly winds, and lying 

 as if the birds had died on the spot or had been carried to the place by 

 means of water, to be subsequently covered and buried in the sands. In 

 the vicinity hundreds of Maoris have lived for centuries, judging by their 

 extensive middens, and it is inconceivable that the complete bodies of 

 moas should have been left untouched within a short distance of a Native 

 village when animal food was so scarce among them. 



At Waimarama, as related by Mr. A. Hamilton, F.G.S.,* we saw a place 

 where a big storm had washed out half an acre or more of the upper sand- 

 beds, and had left exposed many thousands of bones in the lower beds, 

 but too fragile for removal. They were arranged as by an artist. Had 

 the birds to which the bones once belonged been killed and cooked by the 

 Maoris the bones could never have lain as we saw them, and had there 

 been dogs it is hardly likely that such an abundance of bones would have 

 remained in perfect condition and spread about in regular order. 



The moa-footprints at Gisborne, near the mouth of the Waikanae, 

 suggest that the birds were either seeking for food in the vicinity or that 

 it was a crossing-place to the birds' resorts a few miles farther on. It 

 appears as if the coast sands were occupied as breeding - grounds, and 

 nothing more. 



Near Pakarae, where extensive sand-dunes exist, I found some years 

 ago a depression in the lower sands that had been exposed after a succes- 

 sion of bad weather and fierce winds, and it contained the broken remains 

 of the greater part of a moa-shell cemented together in a way that suggested 

 it had been broken by pressure — the inner surface held together by the 

 yolk material. 



Indeed, everything along the coast where moa-remains occur suggests 

 that the sands were frequented for breeding purposes only. I am not 

 prepared to say the same of all the other birds whose bones are found along 

 with those of the moa. Thinner and different kinds of broken egg-shells 

 are to be found, but there are no traces that the birds when living were 

 disturbed by man. . As far as I can discover after working again and again 

 the sands along the East Coast where Maoris have dwelt for many genera- 

 tions — and middens are numerous — there is no evidence to show that the 

 moa was ever hunted by the Maori for food, that eggs were cooked and 

 eaten, or that bones were ever broken for the extraction of marrow for 

 food of dogs. 



It has already been remarked as to the great length of time represented 

 by the lower deposits of certain coast sand-deposits. They correspond to 

 the age of high-level shingle conglomerate that preceded the plains, like 

 those of Horetaunga, Ruataniwha, "Wairarapa, Wairoa, and Poverty Bay. 

 These alluvial plains are of comparatively recent make, and to gain a true 

 conception of the days of the moa and the surface features of the country 

 wh/n the bird flourished and roamed over it the surface features as repre- 

 sented by its remains must be carefully studied. The moa could not live 

 or breed on or within an area which was subjected to constant change. 

 Its home was among the downs, the rough limestone hills, and solitary 

 uplands, where food was plentiful and enemies few. The localities enume- 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 21, p. 313. 



