448 
ISLAND LIFE. 
[part II. 
abundance — in recent fiuviatile deposits, in old native cooking 
places, and even scattered on the surface 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 digestion, 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 . 1 Bones of Apteryx are also found fossil, but appar- 
ently of the same species as the living birds. How far back in 
geological time these creatures or their ancestral types lived in 
New Zealand we have as yet no evidence to show. Some 
specimens have been found under a considerable depth of 
fiuviatile deposits which may be of Quaternary or even of 
Pliocene age ; but this evidently affords us no approximation to 
the time required for the origin and development of such highly 
peculiar insular forms. 
Past Changes of New Zealand deduced from its Wingless Birds. 
1 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 ©f 
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 before 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 was 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 MSS. Many of the details 
given correspond with facts ascertained from the discovery of native cook- 
ing places with Moa’s 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.) 
