1893. THE MO AS OF NEW ZEALAND. 379 



ago did the Moa became extinct ? My exploration of the Sumner 

 Cave proved conclusively that the Moa and the Maori were con- 

 temporaneous (Tyaiis. N, Z. /., vol. xxiii., p. 373). This cave had been 

 shut up by an extensive landslip, but for how long a period it was 

 impossible to discover any evidence. The car\ing on the imple- 

 ments left on its floor was unmistakably done by Maoris. Along 

 with the remains of Moas and other birds round the last fire-place 

 of the inhabitants, I found the shells of Moas' eggs, with the shell 

 membrane still intact, showing that the shells had not been part of 

 any utensil, and their presence in the cave at all seems to leave 

 little doubt that they were brought in as eggs for the purposes of food. 



Now it is held by some authorities on Maori history and tradition 

 that, because the Moa is rarely mentioned in their poetry or proverbs, 

 this knowledge " dates from .... almost prehistoric times, 

 long before the beginning of the genealogical descent of the tribes, 

 which, as we know, extended back for more than twenty-five genera- 

 tions " (Colenso, T. N. Z. S., vol. xii., p. 63). On the other hand, the 

 Maoris now or recently living, especially in the North Island, have 

 numerous traditions about the Moa, its colour, feathers, food, manner 

 of life, fighting, and about their mode of capturing it. Mr. Hutton 

 says, " So far as the North Island is concerned, I am compelled to 

 believe that the Moas were exterminated many [400-500] years ago, 

 because I feel sure, if it were not so, we should find as many allusions 

 to it in Maori tales and poetry as we do to all the other birds, beasts, 

 and fishes that were ot interest to the natives." The date of the 

 extinction of the Moa, I feel, however, cannot be reliably determined 

 by reference to the native traditions or proverbs, for in Monck's Cave 

 at Sumner, associated with the remains of the Moa, I discovered, for 

 the first time, evidence of the former existence in New Zealand of a 

 species of swan, somewhat exceeding the Black Swan of Australia 

 (Chcnopis atyata) in size. 



Shortly afterwards, I received from \arious correspondents 

 (chiefly from Mr. Hamilton, now of the Otago University), and 

 from all parts of both isiands, abundance of evidence that this bird 

 had been at one time widely distributed, and had been used in great 

 numbers by the Maoris for food down to comparatively recent 

 times, for their remains were found in middens, precluding the 

 possibility of their being of vast antiquity. In the Chatham Islands, 

 also, I found, in abundance, bones of what I take to be the same 

 species of swan, in ancient kitchen middens of the Morioris, in 

 association with the remains of Aphanaptery.x, and from localities 

 there, as w^ell as from the state of their preservation, which also pre- 

 cludes the idea of any great age. Yet though so abundantly used as 

 food by these peoples, and especially by the Maoris, who have 

 handed down, with great fidelity and exactitude, the names of most 

 of their food animals, with their mode of capture, their traditions 

 are entirely silent about this conspicuous bird, and, till two or 



