100 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIE TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 



trate the position of this remarkable ossiferous deposit of 

 the colossal birds of New Zealand. The appearance and con- 

 dition of the bones are similar to those of mammalia im- 

 bedded in peat-bogs. They have acquired a rich umber 

 colour, and their texture is tough and firm ; they contain 

 a large proportion of animal matter, even the periosteum is 

 in some instances preserved. 



" Although bones of several species of Moa, especially of the 

 largest kinds, have been collected from this locality in consi- 

 derable numbers and in great perfection, yet as the bed is 

 rapidly diminishing from the inroads of the sea, there is 

 great reason to fear that it will be entirely washed away, 

 without yielding to the palaeontologist all the desired in- 

 formation respecting the extinct animals whose relics it 

 enshrines ; for the natives and whalers are well aware of the 

 interest attached to the bones by Europeans, and they seize 

 indiscriminately on any specimen exposed by the receding 

 tide, and if it cannot be readily extracted they break it off, 

 and thus many a valuable relic has been destroyed. Their 

 cupidity and avarice have too been so much excited by the 

 large rewards injudiciously given by casual visitors, that the 

 cost of specimens has increased to an unreasonable amount." 



An earnest of the invaluable treasures that might be 

 obtained by careful research, is afforded by the entire series 

 of bones (26 in number) of a pair of feet and legs of the 

 largest species of Moa (Dinornis robustus), that were found 

 standing erect, the one about a yard in advance of the other, 

 with the proximal ends of the two shank-bones just visible 

 above the soil. These were carefully extracted bone by bone, 

 and ticketed on the spot by my son, so that I was enabled to 

 have them articulated as in a recent skeleton ; and they now 

 constitute an unique example of the bones of the feet found in 

 natural connexion, and show the original form and structure 

 of these organs in the extinct colossal birds of our Antipodes. 1 

 From the position of these bones, there can be no doubt, as 

 my son observes, that the unfortunate Moa was mired in the 

 swamp, and unable to extricate itself, perished on the spot : 



1 The frontispiece of the " Pictorial Atlas," is a beautiful lithograph 

 of one of these feet by Mr. Diiikel, one-third nat. size. See pp. 1012 

 of that work. 



