CORRESPONDENCE. IS THE MOA A NEW ZEALANDER?

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LI, Issue 9139, 11 July 1906, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

IS THE MOA A NEW ZEALANDER?

(To the Editor.l

Sir, — I enclose you therewith a clipping taken from Tit-Bits, April 7, 1906. You will notice the paragraph I have marked, 86 I always iinderstood the Moa was a native of New Zealand. I would like to know if I am correct or not. — I am, etc., CURIOSITY.

The '.-ncloaure reads as follows :—"Valuable though the egg of the great^auk is, it cannot compare with that of the a-epyonrfe, or moa. which thrived in Madagascar some 200 yea-T6 ago. The egg is about 12in. in length, and the number known to be in existence can be counted upon the fingers. When the first specimen was brought to Europe in 1851 it aroused tfie greatest excitement. There is one specimen preserved in the British Museum which was brought to Europe in 1851 it aroused the greatest excitement. There is one specimen p-r.-eerved in the British Museum, which was picked up in 1897, floating in a bay off Madagascar. Its value is incalculable, since it constitutes one of -the most extraordinary relics of its type. It is impossible to estimate its marketable price, for the simple Teason that an. egg of this bird ha 6 not been put up to auction within recent years.' ' [In the dictionary we have at hand the moa :s described as "A great bird oi New Zealand, now extinct." Blackie's modern encyclopedia gives a similar definition. ».e suppose no doubt would have been created in the mind of our correspondent if the words "or moa" had not appeared. Aepyornis is a genus of gigantic birds whos? remains have been found in Madagascar. Moa is only a native name. Five species of the dinornis have been found in Xew Zealand, and, they are apparently related to the Madagascar species.