discovered in New Zealand. 
89 
that, very shortly after my leaving Poverty Bay, a Moa 
bone was brought him by a native, which he immediately 
purchased. The natives in the neighbourhood hearing 
of a price being given for such an article as a bone, 
which they had ever considered as of little worth, were 
stimulated to exertion, and a great number, perhaps 
more than a hundred persons, were soon engaged in the 
field, actively searching after Moa bones : the result was, 
that Mr. W. soon had the pleasure of receiving a large 
quantity of fossil bones, some of which were of an 
enormous size, and in a good state of preservation. The 
bones, though numerous, were not in any great variety, 
chiefly comprising such as I have already mentioned ; 
i . e. those of the femur and tibia , together with those of 
the tarsus , the lower part of the dorsal vertebra ?, and a 
portion of the pelvis . Altogether the bones of nearly 
thirty birds, apparently of one species only, must have 
been brought to Mr. Williams. From the great differ¬ 
ence in the sizes of some of them, when compared with 
each other, Mr. W. came to the conclusion that the 
animal to which they once belonged must have been very 
long-lived. Whilst, however, I do not perceive how far 
this inference is to be correctly deduced from the mere 
difference in the size of the bones, we know that longevity 
is common to very many of the feathered race, particu¬ 
larly to those of the larger kinds. One of the bones (a 
tibia*) measured 2 feet 10 inches in length, and was 
proportion ably thick. Two others measured each 2 
feet 6 inches in length. Another, a section of a femur , 
measured 8 inches in circumference in the smallest part. 
On putting together the bones of the leg and thigh 
(although none of them exactly fitted), and making the 
necessary allowance for the portions deficient of the pro¬ 
cesses of the joints, the intermediate cartilages, and lower 
* This has been sent by Mr, Williams, with several others, to 
Professor Buckland. 
