178 Transactions, — Zoology, 



similar country. The small one must have been plentiful at one time upon 

 narrow pieces of country which could not be reached or quitted without 

 passing through miles of bush. The finding of these fine transparent 

 pebbles from the gizzard of one of these small ones confirms this opinion, 

 as I think these stones were local, the country behind the beach being 

 either dense bush or swampy peat soil. 



Earlier in the summer, namely, in 1883, I had occasion to go to Porirua 

 on the west coast of Wellington. Near the western bank of the northern 

 branch of this harbour, are situated several old sites of pahs, famous in the 

 old native wars, and in their early wars with the colonists. One of these was 

 called Taupo, and not far from its site is the old stone stockade called Parra- 

 matta. The Manawatu railway crosses this harbour by a bridge, which was 

 in course of construction when I visited the spot. I made a hasty search 

 among the sandhills beyond the line of the bridge, a few hundred yards 

 from the stone stockade, which is now a woolshed, and there found a piece 

 of ground from which the sand, which must have been accumulating there 

 for ages, had recently been blown away. Here, close to the large sandhill, 

 upon which in 1847, a Maori was hanged by the sentence of a court- 

 martial for rebellion, I found four beautifully-polished stone axes. Not far 

 from these I found the neck of a moa, all the vertebrae of which lay in a 

 string. A number of bones lay there, too, and upon them were plainly 

 visible the marks of the stone implements which had been used to cut off 

 the flesh. The bird had evidently been cooked and eaten, as burnt bones 

 lay about. I saw numerous tracheal rings lying among the bones, and 

 close by them some horny fragments like portions of the beak. I had very 

 little time to examine these, and before I could gather them, a boat called 

 for me, and I had to leave. Since then, a friend who lives in the neigh- 

 bourhood has kindly gathered most of them for me. These bones were 

 those of a very small bird when compared with the giant moas whose 

 bones are so common in the interior of the South Island. 



P.S. — Since the above was written, I have found what I take to be 

 gizzard-stones on the high sand-crowned hills between Lyall Bay and the 

 Wellington Heads. 



I had originally fancied that gizzard-stones were worn somewhat flatter 

 than water-worn stones, but abandoned this at the suggestion of a friendly 

 critic. An examination of the beautiful set in the Colonial Museum at 

 Wellington inclines me, however, to re- adopt this view. 



