CHAP. XXI 



NEW ZEALAND 



477 



of Dinornis maximus mounted in the British Museum in 

 its natural attitude being eleven feet high. They agreed, 

 however, with the living Apteryx in the character of the 

 pelvis and some other parts of the skeleton, while in their 

 short bill and in some important structural features they 

 resembled the emu of Australia and the cassowaries of 

 New Guinea.^ No less than eleven distinct species of 

 these birds have now been discovered ; and their remains 

 exist in such abundance — in recent fluviatile deposits, in 

 old native cooking places, and even scattered on the sur- 

 face of the ground — that complete skeletons of several of 

 them have been put together, illustrating various periods 

 of growth from the chick up to the adult bird. Feathers 

 have also been found attached to portions of the skin, as 

 well as the stones swallowed by the birds to assist diges- 

 tion, and eggs, some containing portions of the embryo 

 bird; so that everything confirms the statements of the 

 Maoris — that their ancestors found these birds in abundance 

 on the islands, that they hunted them for food, and that 

 they finally exterminated them only a short time before 

 the arrival of Europeans.^ Bones of Apteryx are also found 

 fossil, but apparently of the same species as the living birds. 



1 Owen, " On the Genus Dinornis," Trans. Zool. Sor. Vol. X. p. 184. 

 Mivart, " On the Axial Skeleton of the Struthionidse," i rans. Zool. Soc. 

 Vol. X. p. 51. 



^ The recent existence of the Moa and its having been exterminated by 

 the Maoris appears to be at length set at rest by the statement of Mr. 

 John "White, a gentleman who has been collecting materials for a history of 

 the natives for thirty-five years, who has been initiated by their priests into 

 all their mysteries, and is said to "know more about the history, habits, 

 and customs of the Maoris than they do themselves." His information on 

 this subject was obtained from old natives long before the controversy on 

 the subject arose. He says that the histories and songs of the Maoris 

 abound in allusions to the Moa, and that they were able to give full 

 accounts of "its habits, food, the season of the year it was killed, its 

 appearance, strength, and all the numerous ceremonies which were enacted 

 by the natives befitre they began the hunt, the mode of hunting, how cut 

 up, how cooked, and what wood was used in the cooking, with an account 

 of its nest, and how the nest w;is made, where it usually lived, &c." Two 

 pages are occupied by these details, but they are only given from memory, 

 and Mr. White promises a full account from his Msg. Many of the details 

 given correspond with facts ascertained from the discovery of native cook- 

 ing places with Moas' bones ; and it seems quite incredible that such an 

 elaborate and detailed account should be all invention. (See Transactions 

 of the New Zealand Institute^ Vol. VIII. p. 79.) 



