MOA FOOTPRINTS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 194, 16 August 1912, Page 7

MOA FOOTPRINTS.

■40- •■ • . REPORTED DISCOVERY AT

PALMERSTON

ON THE BANK OF THE

MANAWATU

"FOUR CLEAR FOOTPRINTS."

[Special to Express.]

PALMERSTON N., Aug. 15. Four clear footprints, apparently of JNew Zealand's prehistoric wingless bird, the moa, were discovered on the Manawatu river-bank, near the foot of Fitaroy Street, Palmerston North, yesterday. The discoverer was Mr G. E. Coles,, a young Welshman from Monmouthshire, now residing in Broad Street, Palmerston North. The news of the discovery will be of great interest to ornithologists all over New Zealand. Mr Coles is a Iceen student in an unofficial sort ot way of things •'prehistoric. When he arrived in New Zealand two years ago it did not take him long to drift into\ Acquaintanceship with the curator ol the museum at Auckland. There he examined and discussed New Zealand s only complete skeleton of the prehistoric bird, and he nurtured his interest in it afterwards on every possible occasion. Among other things, he had the good fortune to see photographs of moa footprints discovered on an old mudflat at Gisborne. , . . ... His interest in prehistoric things took him down to the riverside, where the crumbling banks afforded a noppy-bnnting-ground ror things that were before the white man came to New Zealand. The river's greatest damage was to bo found near the toot of Fitzroy Street. A hundred yards or so down the stream lie various objects caught in a thicket of timber debris, whither Ihey had been cast by the flood. Here also one ot the Borough Council's protective mats lies wrecked, straining tight on wires that anchor it to the bank. Just behind this mat, washed by the floods that down the V.ank, are outcrops of old hardened blue mudbank, or, as local residents .usually call it, papa. It was here that Mr Coles made his very interesting discovery. Picking his way along below the -crumbling cliff, he saw, at a place -where the slab's surface was smoother and Leveller than elsewhere, impressions that strongly resembeld those .of Gisbornfi. Examination disclosed a line of four of thesa prints, m splendidly clear outline. They were -obviously the three-toed footmarks or some huge bird. Each footmark measured JS inches across. From the tip of--the middle toe to the rear <of the foot the distance was 12 inches. The length of the stride was 2£ feet, in each instnee the clear space from foot to foot being 18 inches. The .marks run almost in a straight line, there being only a very slight divergence to right and left as the alternative foot was placed down. In the «ame way the direction of the middle itoe-mark varies very slightly alternately to right and left. At" the rear of this slab of soft blue rock rises the river-bank, covering no •doubt many more of these impressions. In front of 'the last one the shelf ends abruptly, .and the river rushes past to the right. Also, at the edge, of the slab is another footmark, solitary and less well preserved, but still undoubtable- At the left is another, close to where blue rock and yellow clay begin to intermingle. The footmarks yesterday, when Mr Coles found them, were dry; but the rain this morning filled them with water- , „, , - Mr Coles called at the Standard Office this morning, and arrangements wer© made with Mr-Robert Gardner, president of the Palmerston Philosophical Society, to inspect the find. Mr Gardner expressed himself as •delighted with the discovery, and mth the extensiveness, clearness, and eentiitieness of the footprints. Mr Kenneth Wilson, secretary of the Palmerston Philosophical Society, was afterwards communicated with, the intention being to photograph the slab immediately. . The possibility of cutting up blocks, of the blue rock; containing the impressions and removing'them i to the Palmerston Museum is under consideration. The moa was. a bird varying m height, according to variety, from • sft. to lift. . The date of its final extinction is a matter of controversy among naturalists. Some consider the freshness of the traces indicate its existence within 100 years past, while others think it was extinct 500 years ago, before the Maoris came, as the Maoris have no legends concerning it. \ ! i Mr Tremaine. a gentleman who has spent considerable time on the river at Palmerston, says he has on several occasions found footprints similar to •those now reported, but he did not attach much importance to them. ,He lias also found bones which he believes may have come from birds of that type. • Local naturalists are experiencing anxiety lest curious spectators should swarm down to the interesting spot and obliterate the traces by their own footmarks. Efforts aro being made to find the landowner jind get an .embargo placed against trespassers. The owner" is a Mr Bergersen, Another danger is that another flood may occur and carry away the ledge, as it has already done many times this season to these banks. The heavy snow on the hills and the drizzle and thaw that now prevail give weight to this fear.