THE AGE OF THE MOA.

Taihape Daily Times, 16 October 1918, Page 7

THE AGE OF THE MOA.

! One of the most interesting items I in an exceedingly interesting lecture on I the geology of Wanganui, delivered | before the Wanganui Philosophical | Society on Monday evening by D. P. Marsall, F.G.S., was the exhibition ot a fossil bone from the papa of the dls- | trict, which was undoubtedly part ot j the ffemur of a large moa (Dinhrlus 1 Robusta). This Is of surpassing m- | terest, as being the earliest record w» 1 have so far of the existence of this bird in New Zealand. Fossils la plenty have, been discovered in the j old river gravel, and, remains much more recent are comparatively cona- : mon, but this is without question long | ages older. Some years ago the boj- ■ ough workmen found bones, supposed- ■ ly moa, in the gravel deposit on Sr. John's Hill, but what became of them is not known. The doctor venturer* the opinion that the moa had never been seen by the last waves of Polynesian immigrants to New Zealantw, but was only known to them as the echo of tradition from the very earliest of the Maori settlers. A gentleman who has given the subject considerable study, while giving due deference to Mr. Marshall’s view, j points out thre are, nevertheless, rel cords of the moa having been seen in | recent times, while there is,, of course, j ample evidence of its presence in a / large number of place-names—such as * Moawhango—which include “moa. M 1 The" late Mr. H. C. Field stated that he had spoken to many old Maoris Who said they had actually hunted the moa, and who mentioned the fact — I which could only have been known by actual experience—that, in fighting, the bird stood on one leg, and struck forward with the other, a characteristic of struthious birds. Mr. FieJe records that, on one occasion, be found the bones of a moa in the sand 1 dunes between Nukumaru and Waito- ! tara, which had been cut in pieces by a sharp instrument. He was satisfied that the bones had been cut while “green,’ ’directly after the bird was killed. The late Dr. Rees also says that at a great feast given by Te Ter Hen in 1830 the flesh of a moa was cooked and eaten. The shin was as large as that of. an ox. The Maoris also stated that the bird was sometimes kept in captivity.