THE ZooLoGist—JULY, 1875. 4513 
flesh has a strong fishy flavour. It is extremely common at the 
Cape: Mr. Layard says, “I have seen it in flocks extending upwards 
of three miles in length and a quarter of a mile wide across the bay, 
the hindermost constantly flying forward and plunging into the sea 
as soon as the outside of the army was reached. In this way the 
flock gradually moved out of the bay, feeding as it went. It breeds 
on Pomona Island and on all the small rocks along the coast, laying 
two eggs of a blue ground covered with white chalk.” 
Water-treader (Podica Mozambicana).—This little bird is very 
common, and takes the place here of the English coot. It is one 
of the half-webbed-footed tribe, being nearly allied to the grebes. 
It seems more than any other bird to support itself on the water 
and run along the surface, from which it derives its name. Its 
length is twenty-one inches; colour above brown, beneath white ; 
breast and flanks fulvous; a few white spots on the shoulders; the 
legs and feet are bright orange. 
R. B. & J. D. S. Woopwarp. 
(To be continued.) 
Researches and Excavations carried on in and near the Moa-bone 
Point Cave, Sumner Road, in the Year 1872. Read at a 
Special Meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 
New Zealand, on the 15th of September, 1874. By JuLius 
Haast, Ph.D., F.R.S., President.* 
In the spring of the year 1872 Mr. Edward Jollie suggested to me 
that the Moa-bone Point Cave, near Sumner, if properly examined, 
would doubtless yield important and interesting results. My friend 
thought that, by making there extensive and careful excavations, the 
question as to the period of the extinction of the moa would be, if 
not entirely solved, at least considerably advanced, and that even 
the ground near the entrance of the cave,—many acres in extent,— 
if properly investigated, would offer additional evidence for the 
elucidation of the subject. On my remark that no funds for such 
an undertaking were at my disposal, Mr. Jollie headed at once a 
* Communicated to the ‘ Zoologist’ by the author. I exceedingly regret that 
more than half a year should have elapsed subsequently to the reading of this 
invaluable paper before even the first portion could appear in the pages of the 
‘ Zoologist. —E. Newman, 
