of an unknown species of Bird. 89 



often possessing a great inclination, at once perceived by the 

 rapidity of their waters. They all have more or less of a delta 

 near their mouths, from a slight inspection of which it is known 

 that their channels have, in those places at least, considerably 

 changed. The rocks and strata in these localities indicate gene- 

 rally both secondary and tertiary formations; consisting, the 

 former of argillaceous schist, sandstone, conglomerate, green - 

 sand, &c. ; the latter of clay, marl, calcareous tufa, sand, gravel, 

 and alluvial deposits. The real depositum, however, of the Moa 

 bones is not certainly kno^^^l. 



From native tradition we gain nothing to aid us in our in- 

 quiries after the probable age in which this animal lived; for 

 although the New Zealander abounds in traditionary lore, both 

 natural and supernatural, he appears to be totally ignorant of 

 anything concerning the Moa, save the fabu^lous stories already 

 referred to. If such an animal ever existed within the times of 

 the present race of New Zealanders, svu-ely, to a people possessing 

 no quadi'uped*, and but very scantily supplied with both animal 

 and vegetable food, the chase and capture of such a creature would 

 not only be a grand achievement, but one also, from its im- 

 portance, not likely ever to be forgotten ; seeing too that many 

 things of comparative minor importance are by them handed 

 down from father to son in continued succession, from tlie very 

 night of history. Even fishes, birds and plants, (anciently 

 sought after with avidity as articles of food, and now if not alto- 

 gether, very nearly extinct,) although never having been seen by 

 either the passing or the rising generation of aborigines, are, 

 notwithstanding, both in habit and uses, well known to them 

 from the descriptive accounts repeatedly rehearsed in their hear- 

 ing by the old men of the villages. This veiy silence, however, 

 I embrace as a valuable auxiliary evidence, bearing me out not a 

 little in my conjecture, that the bones of the Moa will probably 

 be found lying either in the upper stratum of the secondary or 

 the lower strata of the tertiary formation. In fact, unless we 

 suppose this immense bird to have existed at a period prior to 

 the peopling of these islands by their present aboriginal inhabit- 

 ants, how are we to account for its becoming extinct, and, like 

 the Dodo, blotted out of the list of the feathered race ? From 

 the bones of about thirty birds found at Turanga in a very short 

 time and with very little labour, we can but infer that it once 

 lived in some considerable nvunbers ; and, from the size of those 

 bones, we conclude the animal to have been powerful as well as 

 numerous. What enemies then had it to contend with in these 

 islands, where, from its colossal size, it must have been para- 



* Sec Note D., Appendix. 



