176 Transactions. —Zoology. 
probably been but little noticed before, as they were quite undisturbed. 
The gizzard stones here were not so pure white as those down the Waitaki. 
In some cases the bird had contented itself with a collection of hard dark 
stones, among which lay here and there a white one. I suppose the pure 
white stones are scarce here, while down the Waitaki the birds lived nearer 
to Otago where quartz is more plentiful. This seems to indicate that their 
habits confined them to a comparatively small area, and perhaps that they 
were able in some way to cross the Waitaki, I saw nothing to lead me to 
think that the birds had been slaughtered. In one case the bones were 
broken, but as they were not burned, and lay in situ, I concluded that they 
had been fractured by accident. I found one umu or oven on the ground. 
I can only express a hope that these remains may be left undisturbed until 
some competent person has thoroughly examined the locality, making some- 
thing more than a mere cursory survey of it. 
On the journey to Mount Cook, up the western bank of the Tasman, we 
halted for a day or two, close to Mr. Darke's out-station. Here I ascended 
@ mountain in the Moorhouse Range, locally called Mount Peak. It rises 
immediately behind the hut, and terminates in a peak nearly free of snow. 
I make its summit about 8,400 feet above the sea, but I am not certain of 
this, owing to an accident which affected my aneroid. At various heights, 
from 1,500 up to I think nearly 5,000 feet above the sea, I found pure 
white quartz pebbles. They were never isolated; generally three or four 
lay together. In one place I found nearly 30 in a patch. Mr. F.F. C. 
Huddlestone, one of our party, found a similar patch. Some of these groups 
were far above the level where water-worn stones of this character might be 
found. The material was local, as at all levels I occasionally found angular 
fragments from the fine quartz veins which occur in the strata here. I 
have no doubt that these small patches of pebbles were from the ewereta of 
the moa, as they were always well worn and smaller than the largest stones 
of the collections. Mr. Huddlestone confirmed this view, having found 
similar pebbles in similar places in Otago. 
I now take the opportunity of exhibiting three magnificent sets of 
gizzard stones sent me from Lake Manapouri by Mr. Mitchell, manager 
of Manapouri Station. I give his own account of them: “Each lot is 
complete, as I gathered them very carefully. With one lot I got one or two 
small pieces of bone which I send also. In the case of the two large lots 
one or two stones were scattered while all the rest were as if in a pocket 
a few inches below the surface and may belong to a young bird, but I fancy 
it is from a smaller species.” 
No. 4 is a small set containing 210 small stones, weighing in all only 
8 ozs. No. 5 contains 889 stones and weighs 4 lbs. 7 ozs. No. 6 contains 
$42 stones and weighs 4 Ibs, 10 ozs, It will be observed that they are 
