Birds. 9197 
ostrich, might escape for years the notice of the few Europeans who 
have ventured to intrude on his haunts. 
Notice of the Remains of the Moa and other Birds formerly 
inhabiting New Zealand. By WaLTER BULLER, Esq.* 
ON seeing the extraordinary and marvellous accounts in the New 
Zealand papers regarding the discovery of the moa, and which were 
republished here, I wrote to my brother, the Archdeacon of Wellington, 
for information ; and he has by this mail forwarded a paper written by 
an ornithological friend, in which I find my opinion (as communicated 
at the time to the Editor of the ‘ Zoologist’) respecting the non- 
existence of the moa corroborated by a naturalist of some standing 
and experience in the colony,—one, too, who it will be readily seen, 
has devoted much time and attention to the subject, and whose valuable 
remarks I am privileged to make use of, and therefore send for publi- 
cation in the ‘ Zoologist.’ 
Henry HApFIELD. 
Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 
June 22, 1864. 
From Walter Buller, Esq., to Archdeacon Hadfield. 
March 17, 1864. 
My dear Archdeacon,—With regard to your query respecting the 
moa, I fear I can tell you little or nothing that is new. As to whether 
it is still in the “land of the living” is, to my mind, a settled question. 
Like the Irish elk, mastodon and mammoth, the moa belongs to a 
past generation of colossal beings, although of course its extinction is 
of far more recent date. Nothing now remains to us of the moa but 
the extensive bone deposits in various parts of the islands, and the 
rade history of the bird as preserved in Maori tradition. That the 
Dinornis was contemporary with the Maori in New Zealand is suffi- 
ciently established by the fact that broken and calcined moa-bones are 
not unfrequently found associated in the same heap with the usual 
refuse of Maori feasts of that period—humau bones, fish bones, 
shells, &c.; and if it be admitted that the first Maori emigrants 
arrived in the country about five hundred years ago, we bring the 
extermination of the species down to a comparitively recent date. To 
* Communicated by Captain Henry Hadfield. 
