MOA BONES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 June 1941, Page 6

MOA BONES

DISCOVERY NEAR KINGSTON. AN IMPORTANT FIND. The most important discovery of moa bones in the south for many years was made recently in a cave near Kingston. The bones of six birds, covering three distinct species, were recovered and are now in the possession of the Southland Museum. They were in good condition, having kept fairly dry, although the encroachment of fire among dry leaves in a portion of the cave had charred some fragments.

The existence of the bones was first reported io the museum authorities by I a shepherd early last January, but he left the district before inquiries could jbe made. Word about the discovery ■ was sent to the manager of Greenvale Station. Mr J. Kennett, who made a .borough search. Towards the end of May he reported that he had located the cache of bones. The director of the Southland Museum, Mr J. H. Sorensen, and Mr T. Grant, of West Plains, went to Kingston and accompanied Mr Kennett to the site. The trip was made by boat for abr ut two miles up the lake and the cave was simated about 25 yards from the shore. A shepherd's hut was nearby. It appeared fairly obvious that the birds had been trapped in the cave because entrance could be made only through a large hole in the roof or a small crevice at floor level through which a man might crawl but which was too small for birds of such large size as the moa.

Mr Sorensen ’ surmised that as the country was bush-clad and too dense for the moas, the birds probably foraged on (he higher country and wore perhaps driven down by a storm or other cause. While searching for food about the bush line, they might al different times have fallen into the natural trap.

The work inside the cave was hampered by the presence of huge blocks of schist rock, among the crevices of which many of the bones had fallen with the disintegration of the skeletons. The rocks had to be removed by drilling and smashing into small pieces. and when the crevices and floor bottom had been cleaned out all the debris was sifted. The main bones have already been; sorted and Mr Sorensen Jias identified I the specimens. The largest is of an 1 immature bird of the biggest South i Island species. Dinornis maximus. and ; when standing erect it would probably | reach to 13 or 14 feet in height. It is j a particularly interesting specimen as I

the fusing of the sectional bones, which is completed at maturity, is clearly visible. The skull of this large bird is in good order and also the breast bones, which, because of their thinness, are often not recovered. There is also another skeleton of this species. There are also two specimens of the species Dinornis novaezealandiae and two of the smaller species Megalapteryx didinus. Bones of the last-nam-ed species were found at Queenstown i many years ago. The discovery approaches in importance, and may equal, a find of bones made at Mossburn many years ago. Those bones are also in the possession of the museum. Mr Sorensen expects that it will be possible to erect a skeleton of the large moa in the museum and also one of the small species. A feature of the discovery was that there were no traces of egg shells, although there were some small immature bones as of a chick newlv hatched.