92 Rev. W, Colcnso on some enormous Fossil Bones 



name for that animal by the missionaries there. The New Zea- 

 lander, in relating his fabulous account of the Moa, almost in- 

 variably said, it was like a " tikaokao/' i. e. a cock, (they having 

 given the cock that name from its crow, which to them sounded 

 like those letters when drawTi out and pronounced after their 

 manner,) and that it was adorned with wattles, &c. Without at 

 all, at present, entering into the question as to what country or 

 countries the existing race of New Zealanders emigrated from to 

 these islands, the popular belief, that at least a portion of them 

 is of Malay origin, is, I think, in connexion with the name of 

 this bird, worthy of notice; for whilst we know the term " Moa " 

 is used to denote the cock in the Friendly Islands and other 

 groups, it is only in the isles of the Indian Archipelago that the 

 cassowary [Casuarius Casoar, Briss.) is to be found, and this 

 bird too is " heavy and stoutly built," and the only one of the 

 whole family of Struthionidce possessing wattles; for, according 

 to Cuvier, it " has the skin of its head and top of the neck naked, 

 of an azure-blue and fiery-red colour, with pendent caruncles 

 like those of the tm-key, and is the largest of all birds next to 

 the ostrich*." May we not, I would ask, be allowed to conjecture, 

 that in that now long-past period, when the forefathers of the 

 present race of aborigines first landed on these shores, a few of 

 those New Zealand birds might still be found in the most 

 secluded and mountainous retreats, having hitherto escaped the 

 repeated inroads of the original inhabitants (or, we may suppose 

 that the bones only were seen and identified to belong to a bird 

 by those new-comers), to which, from their real or supposed re- 

 semblance to those of the cassowary, they gave the name of Moa ; 

 the name which that giant bird bore in their fathers' land ? 



This conjecture, however, may be much more fully established, 

 on ascertaining the name by which the cassowary is known to 

 the present inhabitants of the islands of the Indian Sea. 



The ornithology of New Zealand, now that these islands are 

 become a British colony, will soon be known ; and we may rest 

 assured, that if such an animal exists, it cannot much longer 

 remain concealed. And, it is further to be hoped, that ere long 

 we shall be enabled to find somewhat more of the fossil remains 

 of the Moa, so as not merely to form in part conjectural opinions 

 on its size, habits and afiiuities, but so as to be well assured of 

 what this prodigious creature really was. 



William Colenso. 



Paihia, Bay Islands, Now Zealand, May 1, 1842. 



* Vide Cuvier, ' Regnc Animal,' class Avcs, gen. Casuarius. 



