104 
Account of some Fossil Bones 
and the only one of the whole family of Struthonidcc 
possessing wattles; for, according to Cuvier, it has the 
skin of its head and top of the neck naked, of an azure- 
blue and fiery-red colour, with pendent caruncles like 
those of the turkey, and is the largest of all birds next to 
the ostrich.”* May we not, I would ask, be allowed to 
conjecture, that in that now long-past period, when the 
forefathers of the present race of Aborigines first landed 
on these shores, a few of those New Zealand birds might 
still be found in the most secluded and mountainous 
retreats, having hitherto escaped the repeated inroads of 
the original inhabitants; or, we may suppose, that the 
bones only were seen and identified to belong to a bird 
by those new-comers, to which, from their real or sup¬ 
posed resemblance to those of the cassowary, they gave 
the name of Moa: the name which that giant-bird bore 
in their fathers’ land. 
Ihis conjecture, however, may be much more fully 
established, on ascertaining the name by which the 
cassowary is known to the present inhabitants of the 
islands of the Indian Sea. 
The ornithology of New Zealand, now that these 
islands are become a British Colony, will soon be 
known; and we may rest assured that if such an animal 
exists, it cannot much longer remain concealed. And, 
it is further to be hoped, that ere long we shall be 
enabled to find somewhat more of the fossil remains 
of the Moa, so as not merely to form in part conjectural 
opinions on its size, habits, and affinities, but so as to 
be well assured of what this prodigious creature really 
was. 
Vide Cuvier, Rlgnc Animal, Class Aves, Genus Casuarius. 
