MOA REMAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 93, 21 April 1933, Page 13

MOA REMAINS

DISCOVERED IN CAVES

MANY LARGE BONES

I (Special to "The Evening Post.") NELSON, April 20. While prospecting in the Mount Arthur area before the Easter holidays, Mr. G. Fawcett, of Harley Street, Nelson, with his son, Mr. TR. Fawcett, found a number of new ■ caves, and in them I were numerous inoa bones, many of which have been brought to Nelson. In all, Mr, Fawcett found'ten caves ~ and; the skeletons'of seven adult birds | and two chickens, also several pieces ! of shell. He stated when interviewed today that ho had' not explored ..the caves thoroughly, but he anticipated there were many more.bones about in the caves. On the floor of one of. the caves he could distinctly define the imprints of tho now extinct bird's foot. Several people with a knowledge of moa bones have declared they have never seen bones so large as some of those which Mr; Fawcett has in his possession. The finder considers tho bones of one indicate that it must have stood seven feet in height. The bones are wonderfully well preserved. It is thought that this is the first time pieces of moa egg shell have been found in the Nelson district, though in Otago a complete shell has been found, having been disturbed by a gold dredge from, the place it must have been lying in for hundreds of years.- Imprints of I the bird's foot have been found before in various parts of the Dominion, and it has been roported. that a moa's feather has been found. Not a great amount is known about this extinct bird, though it is generally accepted that there were about 17 species. FAIRLY PROLIFIC IN NELSON. Moa bones have been found at various times'in many parts of tho Nelson Province, in Golden Bay, on the Takaka Hills, in the caves in Aniseed Valley, and even in tho' city area at the foot of tho Grampians, and once previously tho extinct bird's bones have been found in a cave on tho Tableland. The conclusion i 3 thus come to that the moa at one time was fairly prolific in the Nelson Province. On the occasion of the previous finding on the Tableland it was found that inside tho cave was a hole as largo as a room, and evidently, the. moas, walking about in the dark, had fallen into this hole and died, there being many bonos there which tho finders have not troubled to remove. It is interesting to recall that the fine collection of exhibits in the wellknown Christchurch museum was gained largely through the exchange of moa skeletons for other interesting specimens from museums all over tho world. However, at the present time the bones are not valuablo unless they arc-in complete form or indicato the finding of a new species. , At tho back of Mount Arthur, on the Tablelands, there is a Miocene .limestone formation between 3000 and 4000 feet in altitude,' and it was in this, at about 3500 feet, that-tMr. Fawcett discovered the caves, somo-of which were .large, being a quarter of a mile in depth and big enough in places to build a largo house in them. Five of the ten caves located went right through spurs in the hills, the daylight at both entrances being seen from inside. In many parts of the caves debris has fallen from tho top and covered some of the moa bones, and Mr. Fawcett attributes this to tho effect of tho 1D29 earthquake. ■ ■