THE ZooLoGist—NovEMBER, 1876. 5149 
we assume that the birds have been extinct for only a century or so, it is 
inconceivable that the natives, who have reliable traditions extending back 
for several hundred years, and of many minor occurrences, should leave no 
account of one of the most important events which could happen to a race of 
hunters—namely, the extinction of their principal means of existence. At 
the same time, the pursuit of these huge birds to a people without fire-arms, 
or even bows and arrows,—although they might have possessed boomerangs 
or a similar wooden weapon,—must have been so full of vital importance, 
excitement and danger, that the traditions of their hunting exploits would 
certainly have outlived the accounts of all other events happening to a people 
of such character. The Rev. J. W. Stack, with whom I repeatedly con- 
versed upon this subject, fully agrees with me that the absence of any 
traditions places an almost insurmountable obstacle in the way of our 
supposing that the moa-bones found lying on the plains or hill-sides are of 
such recent origin as their position might at first suggest.” 
Further on, in the same paper (p. 73), he says :— 
“Tt has been the fashion to assert that the present native inhabitants of 
New Zealand, the Maoris, are the race who have hunted and exterminated 
the moa, and there are even natives who declare that their fathers have 
seen the moa and eaten its flesh. If such assertions could be proved, our 
researches would have been much simplified. It will, therefore, be my duty 
to examine the data upon which such statements rest, and to bring, in my 
turn, what I consider overwhelming evidence to the contrary—namely, that 
the forefathers of the Maoris not only have neither hunted nor exterminated 
the moa, but that they knew nothing about it.” 
In support of the positions thus taken, Dr. Haast quotes not 
only the Rev. Mr. Stack, but also the Rev. W. Colenso and Mr. 
Alexander Mackay, a Native Commissioner, all of whom, he tells 
us, possessed excellent opportunities of obtaining accurate in- 
formation upon this and other subjects connected with the 
present New Zealanders. With regard to the Rev. Mr. Stack, 
he informs us that gentleman did mention the existence, among 
the Maoris, of a proverb relating to the moa, namely, “He moa 
kaihau,” translated, “a wind-eating moa,” in allusion to a supposed 
habit of the bird of keeping its mouth open when running against 
the wind—a habit, by the way, which exists in the ostrich, and 
was only likely to become known, as regards the moa, from direct 
observation; but he says (erroneously, however, as will appear from 
the extracts hereafter given from Mr. Stack’s own writings on the 
SECOND SERIES—VOL, XI. 3H 
