CoLENSo. — On the Moa. 77 



blance fco those of tlie cassowary, they gave the name of Moa ; the name 

 which that giant bird bore in their fathers' land ? 



Tliis conjecture, however, may be much more fully established, on ascer- 

 taining the name by which the cassowary is known to the present inhabi- 

 tants of the islands of the Indian Sea. 



The ornithology of New Zealand, now that these islands are become a 

 British colony, will soon be known ; and we may rest assm-ed, that if such 

 an animal exists, it cannot much longer remain concealed. And, it is 

 further to be hoped, that ere long we shall be able to find somewhat more 

 of the fossil remains of the Moa, so as not merely to form in part conjec- 

 tural opinions on its size, habits, and affinities, but so as to be well-assm-ed 

 of what this prodigious creature really was. 



APPENDIX, I. 



Note A, page 64. 



The Tuatara is an animal belonging to the Class Eeptilia, Order Sauria ; 

 but to which of the families composing the same, I cannot, in the absence 

 of books of reference, at present determine. It appears to possess characters 

 common to Lacertinidce and IguanidcB, in its having the thin and extensible 

 tongue of the former, combined with the undivided one of the latter. It is 

 common in some parts of New Zealand, particularly on rocky headlands 

 and islets lymg off the coast. I have one at present in spirits, which I had 

 alive for nearly three of the winter months ; during which time, although I 

 repeatedly tried to get it to take some kind of food, I could not succeed. 

 From its habits I supposed it to be a hybernating animal. It measured 

 nineteen inches in length, had a row of elevated spines (or rather recurved 

 scales) nearly the whole length of its back, and appeared a perfectly harm- 

 less creature. It was taken, with two others, on Karewa islet, off Tauranga 

 harbour, in the Bay of Plenty. The natives speak of another species, 

 having a forked tail ! and also assert that a larger species, which inhabits 

 swampy places, has been seen six feet in length, and as thick as a man's 

 thigh. The largest, however, that I have ever heard of did not measure 

 above two feet in length. 



Note B, page 65. 



The shells of several species of Haliotis, Ostrea, and other nacrescent 

 genera, are commonly used by the natives inhabiting the isles of the South 

 Pacific for this purpose. A narrow slip of the shell is firmly fastened to the 

 back of the hook, the barb of which is generally concealed by a tuft of 

 metallic-sm-faced blue feathers, procured either fi-om the Ivorora [Ajjteno- 

 dytes minor) or the Kotaretare {Dacelo leachii). The hook thus prepared 



