INTRODUCTION. 
XXXlll 
rooms ^ ^ Ure .' un ^ ( l ue figg was brought to England, and sold by auction at Stevens’ sale- 
Brio-ht 161 6 ^ ^ etc ^ e< ^ on V £105, and came into the possession of the late Mr. Dawson Rowley of 
b ^ ,trUVCC * anc * full y described it (under D. ingens ) in his ‘Ornithological Miscellany’*. 
q ^ (> *' W0 more e ggs were discovered in the alluvial sandy loam of the Upper Clutha plains, 
thi^ ‘ ^ ne ^ leS ° Was ^ wo 5' om the surface, the other only about a foot apart from it and 
nC 68 deeper. Of the first and more perfect one pieces were fitted together, making nearly 
I 01T1 piete side of the egg, which was estimated to measure 8‘9 inches in length by 6T in breadth. 
shell ta ^ ne ^ ^ 1G bones an embryo chick, which are now preserved in the Colonial Museum. The 
had been eroded by the solvents of the soil, but on the granular surface so produced the 
inatt aCtei * ?t * C - ^ Dear a ”’P orcs w ere distinctly visible. The shell yielded 0-9 per cent, of organic 
ei, showing that it had not been long enough in the soil to part with all its soluble constituents +. 
^ ° ° ne w ^° takes the trouble to examine the skeleton of Dinornis parvus which now stands in 
^ ^ontological gallery of the British Museum, exhibiting bleached but not fossilized bones, some 
, . ^ le ^ a ining their inherent “grease,” will be able to resist the conclusion that the bird to 
^ thej belonged was living at a comparatively recent date. 
^ ^ we B-marked footprints of the Moa in the sandstones of Poverty Bay — models of which are 
a form c t' 86611 ^ m ° St ° Ur rauseums — are interesting historically, but their presence in such 
^ C U 1S consistent with the alleged antiquity of the bird. The case is different, however, with 
Cabes °f excrement collected by Mr. Taylor White, with other Moa remains, in the Waka- 
P e, the condition of which was such that undigested fragments of fern-stalk and other vegetable 
matter could still be detected $. 
. ^ urt ^ cl evidence of the comparatively recent existence of Dinornis is afforded by the fact that 
mixed with its remains 
are the bones of many species of birds still inhabiting New Zealand. Among 
tlics X * 
jj mo j " men ^ ou ^e following genera : — Nestor, Stringops, Platycercus, Himantopus, Hcematopus, 
W'th^ US> ^ >l ° me ^ ea '‘ ■fttzHus, Porphyrio, Anas, Phalacrocorax, and Eudyptula. 
relatino- 1 16S ^ GCt to muc h reiterated assertion that the present race of Maoris have no traditions 
their & ° ^ ^° a ’ * wou ^ state that their ancient folk-lore, their historical waiatas (or songs), and 
probabl Sa ^ n ^ S are fusions, more or less direct, to this bird. The late Judge Maning, 
histor of th m0C ^ ern aut hority on the traditions of the Maoris, has left on record § a very full 
in comdd n &S ^ e ” Ve< ^ ^ rom these sources. According to that account the Moas still existed 
was little ^ 6 nUmbei ' S when the first Maori immigrants arrived, from 500 to 600 years ago. There 
destro ed v, cxc hement in hunting these birds, because of their sluggish habits. They were 
numbers ^ Se ^’ n £ the grass and scrub on fire, the Maoris killing in this manner vast 
han they could use, or even find, when these fires spread to any great distance. Thus 
oval and measures 9-3 ^ ^ exanana ^ on soon a ^ or its exhumation, and I made the following notes : — It is perfectly 
brown as if it had been cs ^ hmgth by / inches in breadth; of a pale cream- colour, stained on one side with yellowish 
matter. The eo-<>- has a s ^°^ e ’ an a PP earanec which may have been due to contact with decomposed animal 
is about that of a new shill' a ^P earancc ’ the surface looking more like half-polished Moa-bone than egg-shell, and its thickness 
point of a pen-knife a 1 "^ e Gn ^ 10 8 Ur i' ace m covered with short linear air-pores, or minute puneta, as if made with the 
°f pencilled markings v r . 1 S ^°f e ^ longitudinally ; being filled with darker matter than the shell they present the character 
dark markings on one j' ^ CXten ^ ^ rom mere P°ints to lines one tenth of an inch in length ; there are some irregular 
in the shell. * ^ 01 10U °*' ^' e e ^> having the appearance of obscure marbling, but these do not seem to be inherent 
t Hector in P roc . Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 996. 
ut - pp. 102-103; cf. John White, tom. cit. p. 79. 
+ Trans. X.-Z. Instft. vol, viii. p. 99. 
e 
