THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 248, 5 April 1865, Page 2

THE MOA OF NEW ZEALAND.

We find the following notice of this rare bird in the October number of the Quarterly Journal of Science, and extract it for the benefit of our readers for whom the conclusions of the learned Linneau Society will possess some interest : “Mr Allis exhibited to the Linnean Society bones and photographs of a Dinornis, of which the skeleton is nearly perfect. Out of nine left riba seven are still lu situ, 'find the .sternum is perfect and as fresh to. appearance as though the bird had been alive lust year. “ The inner left toe has the whole of the outer sole slid adhering to it, ns well as part of the solo of the foot. On the lower part of the back is still a considerable portion of the outer skin studded with the quill part of the feathers, and in one or two rare instances portions of tljo web of the feather. The bones of the neck still show greater.or less marks of having been within reach of the destructive effects of the atmosphere, while the head at one extremity, anti the fir.-t dorsal vertebra at the other, are each as perfect, as though they had been taken from a fresh kiiitd bird by the most skilful anatomist. Mr Gibson, a icsident ib New Zealand, sent it to his brother, Dr Gibson, of Fork, with a statement that it was discovered in a sand-hill, 'sitting on its eggs, by some diggers, about 100 miles up the’ country from Dunedin, to which place it was sent for sale. When the boxes were opened they were thought to contain only the bones of one adult bird, but an examination showed a number of small bones belonging to very young birds, its brood, consisting of five individuals. Dr Hooker suggested that the perfect condition and high preservation of the bones might be due to ice; but Professor Huxley and others took a different view of tho subject, and thought that the bird in question had probably been living within ten years. When we remember,that in the Great Sahara the ostrich is only to bo discovered at an immense distance, although there are no. intervening objects behind which he could shelter, the moa, if possessed of half the subtlety of the ostrich, must escape fur years the notice of the few Europeans who have ventured to intrude on his haunts, and it is by no •means impossible that this gigantic bird may exist to'this day undiscovered. Explorations of the middle island are being made by Dr Haast which promise soon to settle this interesting question.”