2 : New Zealand Institute, 
investigations into the annals and traditions, the mythology and ethnology, of 
the Maori race ; and into the natural resources of this country—in its fisheries, 
its minerals, and its trees and plants; while the more purely scientific 
questions connected with its meteorology, its botany, and its zoology, have 
received a large share of attention. 
REVIEW OF VOL, IV. OF THE “ TRANSACTIONS” OF THE INSTITUTE. 
I will now proceed to review very briefly the last or fourth volume of our 
Transactions. - 
A considerable portion of this volume treats of what may be termed the ` 
pre-historic period of New Zealand. The essay of Mr. J. T. Thomson, on the 
origin and migration of the Maoris, is an ingenious and suggestive addition 
to the literature of a subject, the full examination of which should certainly 
be undertaken without delay, and before the traditional knowledge possessed 
by the natives is obscured or obliterated by the lapse of time, and by the 
preponderance of the European settlers. Closely related to this same question 
is the thoughtful criticism by Mr. Travers of some of the more prominent 
Maori legends. We have also several instructive papers filled with dis- 
cussions relative to the Moa. On the one hand, Dr. Haast arrives at the 
opinion that the extermination of this gigantic bird is of high antiquity, and 
that it was effected by a people wholly different from, or at least by very 
remote ancestors of the Maoris of the present day. Dr. Hector, on the other 
hand, adheres to the view which has hitherto been generally received, viz., 
that the Moa has become extinct within a comparatively short period before 
the settlement of these Islands by Europeans, and that it was hunted by the 
immediate forefathers of the existing aborigines. I would further direct 
attention to the remarks by Archdeacon Williams and by Mr. Gillies on the 
foot-prints of the Moa on a sandy deposit on the sea-beach at Poverty Bay ; 
and to the description by Captain Hutton of the moa feathers which have 
recently been found in alluvial soil in the interior of Otago. 
ZOOLOGY. 
The contributions in Zoology during the past year have been numerous 
and varied. The treatment by Captain Hutton of several special branches of 
this department of science may be recommended as a model for observers, To 
Captain Hutton we are also indebted for the compilation of the valuable 
Catalogues of the Birds and Fishes of this country, which have recently been 
issued from the Museum. Another remarkable paper is a description by 
Dr. Haast of an extinct gigantic bird of prey (Harpagornis Moorei), which he 
supposes to have far exceeded in dimensions any known bird of the eagle 
kind, and to have been of proportionate size to the Moa. He believes that, 
