A LITTLE LIGHT ABOUT THE

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 216, 18 April 1873, Page 3

A LITTLE LIGHT ABOUT THE

MOA

(To the Editor of the ' Southland Times.') Sir, —I liaye seen a paragraph in the ' Otago Daily Times/ stating that., a live moa has been seen on tlie banks of tlie Waiau lately, and that tracks and footmarks had been repeatedly seen by the runholder on whose country the bird was said to exist. An intelligent shepherd is stated to have brought in a story to the following effect:—" He started the bird itself out of a patch of manuka scrub with his sheep dog. The bird ran from the dog till it reached the brow of a terrace above him, and some thirty or forty yards off, when it turned on the dog, which immediately ran into the shepherd's heel. The moa (he did not use the word ' moa/ but said 4 a large bird'), stood for fully ten minutes on the brow of the terrace, bending its long neck up and down exactly as the black swan does when disturbed. It is described as being very mtich higher than any emu ever seen in Australia, and as. standing very much more erect upon its legs. The color of .its feathers is described as a sort of silvery grey, with greenish streaks through it." A shepherd lately in my employment certainly brought in a story almost identical with the above. For his " intelligence " I certainly would not vouch, and no confirmation of his tale has yet been found, although a careful search has been made, both for the bird and for tracks. These, Mr. Editor, are the facts. I think, nevertheless, that if the moa still survives, the western bank of the Waiau is as likely a place as any in the Island in which to expect it might be found—l am, &c., HOBT. W. Aitkin. Olifden, Waiau, 28th March.