Hamilton. — Remains of some of the Extinct Birds. 475' 



picturesque masses of this band of limestone which have 

 broken away from the main body of rock and slid or rolled 

 towards the centre of the valley. All round the valley and 

 its branches appear the vertical limestone cliffs, averaging 

 about 100ft. in height, and are about 800 ft. above sea- 

 level. The spot where the bone of the crow was found 

 was first examined, and proved to be very limited in area 

 and poor in bones, although I commenced by digging up 

 a fine calvarium of Gnemiornis just below the surface, and 

 therefore expected great things. We then proceeded to 

 examine a cave some distance further from the house. 

 Here we had to descend about 25 ft. through a narrow 

 crack in the rock parallel with the general direction of the 

 face of the cliff. These narrow cracks are very numerous, 

 and if they could be examined to a considerable depth I have 

 no doubt would yield many treasures. Proceeding a short 

 distance along the bottom of the fissure, it presently dipped 

 deeper, and it became necessary to light a candle. The 

 fissure here expanded into a small cave, with remains of small 

 stalactites on the roof and a thin layer of stalagmite on the 

 undisturbed portion of the floor. The centre of the floor had 

 evidently been dug over, and we were informed that some 

 sackfuls of bones had been taken out. One or two places near 

 the walls yielded a good many imperfect moa-bones, mainly 

 Pachyoruis and a few bones of Cnemiornis. I did not notice 

 any small-birds' bones. The cave was dry save for some 

 percolation from above. 



On getting oiit of this cave we commenced an examina- 

 tion of the talus slope at the base of the wall of limestone, 

 pushing our way through a dense growth of native shrubs and 

 creepers, with here and there a large broadleaf (Griselinia). 

 Wherever the ground was exposed we found traces more or 

 less plentiful of small-bird bones, and here and there remains 

 of large nioas. 



The stiff' bushes of matakouri and a dense growth of hore- 

 hound rendered a thorough inspection difficult. After having 

 examined the whole of the area covered by the fallen rocks, 

 and having walked along the edge of the cliffs on the grassy 

 plateau above, I think that the following suggestions will be 

 found to meet the facts of the case. 



There is an almost unbroken line of cliffs for nearly three- 

 quarters of a mile ; below these, at an average distance of a 

 chain or two, is an irregular line of rocks at all angles, which 

 have split off' and fallen away from the main mass. Below 

 these are other rocks which have broken off at an earlier date, 

 and which have slipped and slid further, but are still roughly 

 parallel with the main cliff. Between the cliff' and the last 

 split-off rocks is an irregular sloping mass of soil, stones, and 



