EMBALMED IN KAURI GUM.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 3 December 1929, Page 6

EMBALMED IN KAURI GUM.

BIRD'S NEST AND NINE EGOSSeveral curious discoveries of object* preserved in kauri gum and lime sin-* tv r have been made by Mr (reorge Henry, of Tangawahlne, inbush country about twenty miles inland from. Kerikeri, Bay of' Islands (sa,ys the" "New Zealand Herald"). The most, remarkable of the specimens is. a bird's. nest (.-ontain tug nine eggs and completely enclosed in a layer of kauri? gum. The eggs, with a few leaves, arc "plainly visible in the bottom of the; nest. Above them the gum has formed: a' neat covering, and it has run over the outer part, of the nest congealing, on to the leaves and twigs used in ifcs ; construction. When found the whou>was resting on a limy deposit, and inorder to remove it Mr Henry had ta< chip the base away. A strange feature is that the gum has a blazed appearance, somewhat inconsistent with, gum deposits in their ntw state. Fra.gr ments of leaves, miniature kauri cones?, stems, and other plant forms have beenreplaced by calcareous sinter in another case. The small tangled mass i»; entirely covered by a coating of shilling gum, the outlines of the leaves, and other things being clearly. Professor J. A. Bartrum, professor of geology at Auckland University College, who examined this particular specimen, said the sinter had probably been formed from some lime spring, a 3; these were known to exist in the district. Much interest attached t'o the complete covering of gum,-. It wfta not fossilised, and for that reason it was difficult to conceive how it could' have dropped from trees and covered the lump of sinter without attaching; surrounding objects to the mass. It seemed as though . the specimen had been coated with gum by an earlier - discoverer and then left to bo foundi again. This conclusion was not definite, but the shininess of the gum coating was a strange feature not usuallyfound in gum droppings.