

THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND. 129 



It is very difficult to be obtained, and is hunted by torch- 

 light by the natives for the sake of its skin, which is highly 

 prized to ornament the dresses of their chiefs. It has become 

 very rare, and must soon be exterminated, for its numbers 

 are fast diminishing.* 



6. The Moa (Dinornis of Professor Owen,) of New 

 Zealand. — About eight years since a portion of a femur 

 (thigh-bone) of large size was brought from New Zealand, 

 and submitted to the examination of Professor Owen, who 

 pronounced it to belong to a gigantic bird of the same 

 family as the Apteryx. Subsequent discoveries have 

 proved the correctness of this inference, and the numerous 

 bones since received, establish the former existence in the 

 islands of New Zealand, at no very distant period, of a 

 tridactyle bird, resembling the Apteryx in its general con- 

 formation, but one-third larger than the African Ostrich. 

 These bones were found in the alluvial mud of the rivers ; 

 the largest collection sent to England was obtained by the 

 Rev. W. Williams, from Poverty Bay ; the bones are in 

 a very fine state of preservation, and resemble those found 

 in our recent fluviatile clays and silt. 



It seems probable that these remains are washed out of 

 an ancient alluvial deposit, that forms the present river- 

 channels : for I am informed by my son (Mr. Walter Man- 

 tell, of Wellington, N. Z.) that he obtained bones from a 

 potato-pit sunk by a native at some distance from any 

 stream. If this be the case, these relics occupy the same 

 relative geological position as those of the mammoth, horse, 

 &c, that occur in the banks of the Thames. 



It is remarkable that these bones were referred by the 



* See Trans. Zoolog. Soc. of London, vol. ii. Another species of 

 Apteryx has very recently been discovered in Sew Zealand ; it is 

 three feot high, and its eggs are as large as those of the Emu ; it may 

 possibly be a species of Moa. 



K 



