A MOA'S FEATHER.
| Tho Evening Press- gives the follow. '.ti£! deseuption of ;i moa's feather which it has been shown, fine] which is said to ho in a wonderful slate of preset vation :—" Jr. is exactly a foot lone, b-.it it, is scarcely morr than ;> <hi''d •■.' ..;i inch wide at, tho wiliest pru't, a r 1 o11:11.■ - plume of singular!v "rar.efn! pro;ioi tier.;-: and altogether ini,':k" f.V (tut'ie/of fir.v bird now in existence. It k of a. chirk gray co!o<t and h;is :. wiry appearance, a.- if it were hair rather than feather: hut when uiosely f.vuniii; i 1 it ■« si-vu to consist of a multitude of beautifully
soft plumelets, arranged in perfectly syraetrical order upon a quill of exceeding fineness and flexibility. So flexible is it, indeed, that it can be coiled round in a circle and pressed between the leaves of a book without any danger of injuring it. This rare specimen of the plumage of the gigantic bird so recently extinct, the history of which is such a profouud mystery, was found about eight feet below the surface in a quarry on the property of the Hon. Mr Lnnach, Minister of Mines, near Dunedin, and is in the possession of a man in the employment of Mr Bruce, M.H.R. for Rangitikei."
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Bibliographic details
Kumara Times, Issue 3154, 13 December 1886, Page 3
Word Count
213A MOA'S FEATHER. Kumara Times, Issue 3154, 13 December 1886, Page 3
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