. 
104 Fossil and Recent Birds of New Zealand. 
district, which are said to contain bones of Moas and other ani- 
Uae 
A friend of mine lately received a letter, dated October, 1849, 
from Dr. Thompson, surgeon of the 58th regiment, now at Auck- 
land, in which the writer states that having heard from Ser- 
vantes, the native interpreter, of caves containing birds’ bones, he 
accompanied the latter in search of the place, and was rewarded by 
obtaining several skulls and mandibles. He observes: ‘‘ The beak 
is not like the Keivi, (Apteryx), but resembles that of the ostrich 
or Cassowary. ‘The cave is on the west side of the North Island, 
in the limestone formation which extends along the coast. The 
country around is wild, and there are many similar caverns which 
we were told had birds’ bones in them. The popular opinion 
among the natives is, that the country was once set on fire 
an eruption from the volcano of Tongariro, and that all the 
Moas fled to the caves for refuge, and there perished. ‘This story 
will do well for the North Island ; but how were they extinguished 
in the Middle Island, where there are no active volcanoes?” I 
reference to this remark of Dr. Thompson, it is however not 
a little curious that the tradition of extensive conflagrations 
over the Middle Island, is confirmed by the state of the subsoil ; 
for my son found that the now grassy plains, where our modern 
“Canterbury Pilgrims” have fixed their tents, bore evidence be- 
neath the turf of former forests that had been consumed by fire, 
the charred stumps of the trees remaining in situ. Even on the 
sw r morass at Waikonaiti, where my son obtained the 
remarkable pair of perfect feet, there were traces of the same 
catastrophe ; everywhere, he says, there were charred stumps of 
which had been burnt down to the ground. But it was be- 
neath this superficial covering that the bones of the Moas were — 
entombed ; a forest had grown over the ancient swamp, and has — 
been consumed by a conflagration of comparatively recent date ; 
and now the sea covers the site except at low water. I see that 
a paper by Prof. Owen, on skulls of the Palapteryx ingens, 1S 
announced for the first meeting of the Zoological Society ; [think 
it probable that these are the specimens collected by Dr. Thomp- 
son, aud presented to the Governor, Sir George Grey. I intend 
sending a brief notice of the discovery of the Notornis, to the 
Zoological Society, as the subject was first announced in the 
transactions of that body. I may also add that among the fossil 
shells collected by Mr. Walter Mantell, in the North Island, are 
species of Cucul/e@a, one apparently identical with Cucullea 
decussata of England. 
ak 
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